The Supreme Court has upheld the appeal by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court in Abuja to hear the suit filed by former governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa state.
Mr Sylva asked the court to declare him the rightful candidate of the party in the last governorship election in the state.
The judgment which was written by the Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour and delivered by Justice John Fagbiyi noted that the cancellation of the April 2011 governorship election in Bayesla state as a result of the suit filed by Mr Sylva saying his tenure will not end until May 2012 which was upheld by the Appellate Court, had rendered the January primaries null and void ,as it went with the cancelled polls.
The court maintained that it is non-partisan and since primaries are clearly a party affair the law courts has no jurisdiction in the suit, ruling that it is “an intra-party affair in which courts cannot interfere.”
Mr Sylva had filed a cross-application to the Apex Court in January asking the court to evoke Section 22 and constitute itself as a court of first instance and act as a trial court following the Court of Appeal’s decision to return the case to the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The decision of the Court of Appeal was based on a suit filed by the leadership of the PDP against Sylva’s matter that was in the high court.
Justice Rhodes -Vivour noted that in the circumstance it will be an anomaly for the Apex Court to evoke Section 22 and try the suit as if it were the court of first instance since it lacked jurisdiction.
He concluded that the court will continue to remain a passive onlooker on internal party affairs and there after dismissed the ruling of the Appellate Court and the suit filed by former governor Timiprie Sylva, pending before Justice Gabriel Kolawole at the Federal High Court Abuja.
The PDP had filed an appeal at the Supreme Court challenging the ruling of the appellate court which gave jurisdiction to the federal high court to try the matter.
The Appeal court, presided over by Justice Zainab Bukachuwa, declared that the lower court overreached itself by making an order purporting to stop the primary and returned the substantive case to the lower court after declaring that it had jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
However Mr Sylva refused to start the case afresh by heading back to the lower court but instead went to the Supreme Court.
Sylva alongside four other contestant where disqualified by the PDP from participating in the Bayelsa state governorship election primaries which held on November 22, 2011.
A member of the House of Representative, Seriake Dickson won the party’s nomination and won the governorship election.
Mr. Sylva is currently being prosecuted for corruption by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for financial misappropriation during his tenure as the state governor.
