Bayelsa guber: Supreme Court dismisses Lokpobiri’s appeal, affirms Lyon as APC candidate

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, dismissed the appeal brought before it by Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, a former Minister of State for Agriculture, against the candidacy of Bayelsa governor-elect, David Lyon.

Lokpobiri and Lyon are both members of the Bayelsa All Progressives Congress (APC).

The five-member panel of justices of the apex court, led by Justice Mary Peter-Odili, unanimously dismissed the appeal filed by Heineken Lokpobiri, who had instituted his case seeking to be declared the valid winner of September 4, 2019, primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Delivering the lead judgment of the apex court, Justice Inyang Okoro affirmed the January 11, 2020 judgment of the Port Harcourt Division of the Court of Appeal, which had held that Lokpobiri’s suit challenging Lyon’s victory in the primary election was filed out of time allowed in law at the Federal High Court, Yenogoa.

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The unanimous judgment, read by Justice John Inyang Okoro, held that the cause of action took place on September 4, 2019, when the congress of the APC was held and name of the winner announced, and not on September 7, 2019, when the Lyon’s name was submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by the party.

Consequently, the apex court dismissed the main appeal filed by Lokpobiri, where-in he prayed the court to declare him the authentic flagbearer of the APC in the Bayelsa State governorship election held on November 16, 2019.

It would be recalled that the Court of Appeal, sitting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital had, in a judgment delivered in January this year affirmed Lyon as the authentic APC governorship candidate and struck out Lokpobiri’s case.

The appellate court held that Lokpbiri’s petition challenging the emergence of Lyon as the governorship candidate of the APC in Bayelsa was filed out of time.

Justice Isaiah Olafemi, who read the judgement, said Lokpobiri filed out of time as he failed to comply with the statutory 14 days period.

“The matter was filed on September 18, outside the 14 days statutory period. The petition was not filed within time,” he said.

Lokpobiri, who was aggrieved over the process that brought Lyon as the party’s governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, had gone to court to challenge the primaries, insisting that he and not Lyon won the governorship primary election in the state.

He wants the court to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to treat him as the lawful candidate of the APC and to accord him the rights, privileges and perquisites of a candidate of the party in the gubernatorial election.