The Supreme Court of Nigeria will next April tell former Bayelsa governor, Timipre Sylva, whether or not he has a place in a gubernatorial election that would have been concluded one full month earlier, and for which he had brought the appeal in the first place.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria will next April tell former Bayelsa governor, Timipre Sylva, whether or not he has a place in a gubernatorial election that would have been concluded one full month earlier, and for which he had brought the appeal in the first place.
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Yesterday, after listening to lawyers, the court promptly adjourned further hearing in the case until April in what seems to be a substantive decision in itself.
Also of note yesterday, is that the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Dahiru Musdapher recused himself and did not participate in the hearing. He chose Justice Mahmud Mohammed to chair the panel that heard the case.
SaharaReporters had two days ago revealed a plot between President Goodluck Jonathan and the CJN to scuttle any further challenge to the candidacy of Seriake Dickson, his handpicked candidate for governor.
CJN Musdapher has been promised an extension of his tenure by 5 years via a constitutional amendment that will extend the retirement age of Supreme Court justices from 70 to 75 years. It is unclear, however, how this could possibly happen, given the intricacies of constitutional amendments. Besides, Justice Musdapher is billed to retire in July 2012, just five months away.
With yesterday’s adjournment, Mr. Sylva's candidacy has been effectively and permanently shut down, at least for now.
Next Saturday, February 11, the people of Bayelsa will engage in a sham election. Jonathan's candidate, Mr. Dickson, is expected to win easily.
2012 has not been a good year for Sylva. On January 27, he was one of the five governors dismissed from office by the Supreme Court which ruled that their legal mandate ended in May 2011. On January 30, electoral commission finally shut him out of next Saturday’s governorship election in the state, saying that only the party candidates that emerged after the Court of Appeal judgment of Friday, April 15, 2011 would be eligible to stand in that race.
Sylva argues that he should be the Peoples Democratic Party having emerged as its candidate at the January 2011 governorship primaries.
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