The Supreme Court has upheld the choice of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State to field Lyon David as the party’s candidate for the last governorship election in the state.
A five-man panel of the court, led by Justice Mary Odili, in a judgment a on Tuesday, dismissed the appeal marked: SC/35/2020, by former Minister of State for Agriculture, Heineken Lokpobiri against the nomination of Lyon as the APC’s governorship candidate.
Lokpobiri, had queried the APC’s decision to submit Lyon’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its candidate.
Justice John Inyang Okoro, who read the Supreme Court’s lead judgment on Tuesday, held that Lokpobiri’s case was statute barred, having not been filed within the. 14 days allowed under the 4th Alteration Act, as contained in Section 285 of the Constitution.
Justice Okoro was of the view that the internal appeal process of a political parties, which Lokpobirir blamed for late filing of his suit, does stay the running of time as contemplated under Section 285 of the Constitution.
He proceeded to affirmed a similar judgment earlier given by the Court of Appeal on the issue.
The Court of Appeal, Port-Harcourt division had, in the judgement, held that the suit filed by Lokpobiri at the Federal High Court was statute-barred as it was filed outside the 14 days provided by section 285 (9) of the 4th Alteration Act.
It was the judgment that Lokpobirir challenged at the Supreme Court, which was dismissed on Tuesday by a unanimous decision of the five-member panel.
Other members of the panel were Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun and Amina Augie.
The apex court said the judgment in the appeal marked:SC/35/2020 should cover the other two appeals -SC/29/2020 and SC30/2020 – involving the same parties.
Lokpobiri had approached the Federal High Court and prayed the court to declare him, and not Lyon, as the authentic candidate of the APC, a prayer the court upheld, but was later set aside by the Court of Appeal.
Earlier in the Supreme Court’s proceedings on Tuesday, appellant’s lawyer, Emmanuel Ukala (SAN) while adopting his client’s brief, urged the court to hold that Lokpobiri was right to have waited for the outcome of the APC’s appeal process before challenging the outcome of the party’s primary.
Ukala argued that although the result of the primary was announced on September 4, 2019, with the party naming Lyon as the winner, the cause of action arose on September 7, 2019 when the APC submitted Lyon’s name to INEC as its candidate.
He urged the court to set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which held among others, that the trial court had no jurisdiction to have heard the suit by Lokpobiri, which it said was statute barred and filed outside the time allowed under Section 285 of the Constitution.
Lawyers to the APC and Lyon – Audu Anuka and M. G. Numa – argued otherwise and prayed the court to uphold the judgment of the Court of Appeal and dismiss the appeal by Lokpobiri.
Anuka and Numa argued that the cause of action arose on September 4, 2019 when the result of the primary election was announced and Lyon named as the winner of the election.
They argued that Lokpobiri acted late and was out of time, having not challenged the outcome of the primary within the 14 days allowed by law.
Lawyer to INEC, Wendy Kuku, said INEC did not file any brief in respect of the appeal and was not allowed to make any contribution.