Court orders that speaker of the house in Bayelsa sworn in, elections re-run in 90 days.
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Bayelsa Governor Sacked-PM News
Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
The Appeal Court sitting in Port Harcourt this afternoon nullified the election of Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State and ordered the swearing in of the Speaker, Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Mr. Werinipre Seibarugo, as acting governor.
Timipre SylvaIn its judgement read by Justice S. A. Ibiyeye, the Appeal Court nullified the decision of the Bayelsa State Election Petitions Tribunal which upheld the election of Sylva in the 14 April 2007 governorship election, saying there was no election in the state.
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In a unanimous decision, the five justices of the Appeal Court ordered immediate swearing in of the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Werinipre Seibarugo, as governor of the state pending when a new election would hold to elect a new governor.
The court also ordered INEC to conduct a new governorship election in the state within three months.
The justices agreed that there was no election on 14 April, 2007 in the state, going by the evidence adduced before them.
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The Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Peremobewei Ebebi, who witnessed the ruling, promised that the government would abide by the ruling and prepare for another election.
“We are grateful to the appeal court, we are going to prepare for another election,” he said.
Lawyer to the former governor, Mr. Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, also thanked the judges for the judgement, saying he will stand by it.
AC governorship candidate in the election, Ebitimi Amgbara, Mr. G.D Fuderokomo, said he expected the judgement to favour his client “because there was no election in Bayelsa State.
“I serve a God of justice. Bayelsans have a right to choose their leader. We didn’t come to court to malign anybody. We only came to court to prove that there was no election on 14 April, 2007 in Bayelsa State.”
Also, the Court of Appeal sitting dismissed the petition filed by the governorship candidate of all Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) against Governor Ikeddi Ohakim of Imo State.
After dismissing the petition, the court awarded N30,000 cost against the petitioner.
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