The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for governor, Mr. Timipre Sylva, and his running mate, Mr Joshua Maciver, have been struck from the list of qualified candidates for the Bayelsa State governorship election on November 11.
Mrs. Rose Oriarian-Anthony, INEC’s Secretary, announced the decision in a statement. It’s in accordance with a court order, she stated.
The APC candidate was invalidated from the Bayelsa State election in November by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
The decision was made in a lawsuit brought by Demesuoyefa Kolomo, who questioned the former governor of Bayelsa State’s right to run in the off-season elections.
In his decision, Justice Donatus Okorowo emphasized that permitting Sylva to run again would be against the terms of the 1999 Constitution, given that he had already been sworn in twice and had held the office of governor for five years.
According to INEC’s explanation in its statement, it initially published the list of candidates for the governorship of Bayelsa State on June 9 in compliance with Section 32 of the Electoral Act of 2022, as amended.
The Commission further confirmed that they had obtained a court order regarding the APC’s candidate candidacy for the governorship election in Bayelsa State in 2023 after this publication.
Furthermore, the Commission emphasized that INEC must carry with the court’s instructions in compliance with the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended Constitution’s Section 287.
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