Bayelsa Guber: Appeal Court Orders INEC To Retain APC Candidate On Ballot

Less than 24 hours to the conduct of the governorship election in Bayelsa State, the Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to remove the All Progressives Congress and its governorship candidate, David Lyon, from the ballot, to enable him to participate in the polls.

The appellate court gave the order on Friday following an ex parte motion filed by counsel for the Bayelsa governorship hopeful, Lyon on November 14, 2019.

A Federal High Court on Thursday had declared that the APC does not have a guber candidate for the polls.

The court declaration on Thursday, was part of its judgement in a case filed by former minister of state for Agriculture and one of the APC governorship aspirants, Heineken Lokpobiri,

The court was presided over by Justice Jane Inyang.

THE WHISTLER recalls that Lokpobiri had approached the court, asking it to declare him, and not David Lyon, the authentic candidate of the APC.

According to Lokpobiri’s lawyer, Fitzgerald Olorogun while addressing journalists immediately after the court’s ruling, the court held that governorship primary was not done in compliance with guidelines and constitution of the party.

“The court pronounced that the governorship primary conducted by the APC in Bayelsa state was not done in compliance with the guidelines and the constitution of the party, and, therefore, the party has no candidate,” Olorogun said.