A Federal High Court, Abuja has fixed Sept. 22 for judgment in a suit filed by Ogbomade Johnson, an All Progressives Congress (APC) aspirant for the Nov. 11 Bayelsa governorship election, against Timipre Sylva over his emergence as the party’s candidate.
Justice Inyang Ekwo fixed the date after Johnson’s lawyer, Reuben Egwuaba, including APC and Sylva’s counsel, Bem Atetan and Ogwu Onoja, SAN, respectively adopted their processes in the matter.
Earlier at the resumed hearing, Egwuaba informed the court that he filed a written address in response to the preliminary objection served on them by Sylva but discovered a mistake in the application.
“We filed a written address and we discovered the pages exceeded the number stipulated under the rule. So we brought a motion to seek an order to deem it properly filed,” he said.
The lawyer revealed that instead of filing a 15-page application, the pages of the written address was 19.
“Show me where the statutory instrument you relied upon that I can grant u that relief,” the judge said.
After Egwuaba read Paragraph 4 of the Pre-election Practice Direction, 2022, Justice Ekwo held that his application was not within the provision of the law.
The judge, who directed parties to adopt their processes, adjourned the matter until Sept. 22 for judgment.
Mrs Johnson, in the suit, prayed the court for an order of mandatory injunction compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delist the names of APC and Sylva from among the list of political parties and candidates for the November election.
The aggrieved aspirant also prayed for an order of perpetual injunction restraining Sylva, the immediate-past Minister of State for Petroleum, from parading himself as the APC’s governorship candidate in Bayelsa, among others.
The APC had cleared Mrs Johnson, Sylva, Joshua Maciver, Festus Daumiebi, Mrs Maureen Ongoebi and David Lyon as aspirants in the April 14 primaries.
In the primary election conducted in the 102 of the 105 wards of the eight local governments in the state, Sylva was said to have scored 52, 061 votes; Maciver scored 2, 078; Johnson scored 584; Daumiebi scored 557; Ongoebi scored 1, 277 and Lyon scored 1, 584 votes.
But in the originating summons marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/575/2023 dated April 24 but filed April 27, Johnson sued APC, INEC and Sylva as 1st to 3rd respondents respectively.
In a counter affidavit deposed to by Sylva, the ex-minister prayed the court to dismissed the suit.
He said contrary to Johnson’s deposition, he was pre-eminently qualified to contest for election into the Office of Governor of Bayelsa and did not suffer from any disqualifying factor which barred him from contesting.
He averred that he had only served as Bayelsa governor on one occasion.
Besides, Sylva averred that he vied for the APC primary alongside five others, including Johnson on April 14.
He said he emerged its candidate having polled the highest votes from the votes collated from 102 out of 105 wards in the eight local government areas where party members voted in a direct primary in accordance with the guidelines for poll, APC’s constitution and the Electoral Act, 2022.
He said contrary to Johnson’s argument, the primary was held and the results in which he garnered the majority of the votes was accepted and he received congratulatory messages from major APC stakeholders in the state, indicative of the fact that his victory reflected the aspirations of the party members.
Also the APC, in its counter affidavit deposed to by Dr Stanley Ugboaja, the chief of staff to deputy national organising secretary, asked the court to dismissed the suit.
The party argued that the judgment of the Supreme Court delivered on Jan. 27, 2012, in respect of the consolidated appeal was actually in support of Sylva’s bid for a second term in office and not against it as falsely stated by Johnson.
It said that the direct primary poll was conducted by its national body in accordance with the guidelines for the conduct of same as well as the provisions of the Electoral Act and its constitution.
The APC, which averred that INEC monitored the poll also said that the electoral umpire issued a report in respect of the primaries.
“An appeal against the result of the said primaries was lodged with the Appeals Committee of the ist defendant.
“The Appeal Committee rejected the said appeal as unmeritorious. A copy of the report of the Appeal Committee is attached herewith and marked Exhibit F
“That by a letter dated 13th April, 2023, the plaintiff was requested to provide the list of her agents in all the 105 electoral wards in Bayelsa State but she failed to comply.
“She did not even bother to vote in her electoral ward. A copy of the said letter is attached herewith and marked G,” the party told the court,” or said.