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Supreme Court dismisses appeal to sack Bayelsa governor

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the appeal brought by the Change Advocacy Party (CAP) and its candidate in the 11 February 2012 Bayelsa State … Continue reading Supreme Court dismisses appeal to sack Bayelsa governor


The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the appeal brought by the Change Advocacy Party (CAP) and its candidate in the 11 February 2012 Bayelsa State governorship election, Imoro Kabbi, challenging the victory of Governor Seriake Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The Bayelsa State governor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate at the February 11, 2012 governorship election, Seriake Dickson

The CAP had approached the Supreme Court to challenge the nomination of Mr Dickson insisting that he was not the flag bearer of the PDP for the election.

The applicants had through their counsel, Ricky Tarfa, premised their argument on the ground that there was a pending suit before the court against the primary election which brought in Mr Dickson as the candidate of the PDP.

They prayed the court to void the said primary election and sack Mr Dickson from office.

The court however in a judgement delivered by Justice Walter Onoghen upheld the nomination of Mr Dickson by the PDP stating that the court would only be bound by the pleadings before it.

He added that section 177 of the 1999 constitution as amended provided for what qualifies a person to contest for the position of a governor.

He listed the qualifications as ; being a citizen of Nigeria by birth, such person must have attain 30 years of age, such person must be a member of political party and he must have been duly nominated by such party and that such person must possess at least secondary school leaving certificate.

The court further held that the appellant contradicted itself when it admitted that Mr Dickson won the February 11 governorship.

Justice Onoghen said: “evidence of qualification lies in the declaration of the party and the forwarding of a name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by the said party within a period not later than 60 days to the election. INEC received the name of the PDP candidate in the election on December 8, 2011 for an election that is to hold on February 11, 2012, this is more than 60 days which is in the ambit of the law.”

He added that “publication of name cannot invalidate the candidate’s nomination once a candidate is nominated and his name forwarded to INEC, his candidacy cannot be substituted unless the person, the candidate willingly opted out or he died. Once it has been established that candidate was nominated by a party and his name forwarded to INEC, it becomes sealed.

He also added that “the evidence tendered by the appellants are not admissible in law because they are electronic documents and were tendered from the bar, they ought to have done more on their evidence.”