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By Ukandi Christopher
An Appeal Court sitting in Port Harcourt Rivers State has dismissed a suit brought by Heineken Lokpobiri, a former minister of state for Agriculture, challenging the emergence of David Lyon as the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Heineken Lokpobiri had approached a Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa alleging that he won the September fourth APC governorship primaries, which Jane Inyang, judge of the Federal high Court, ruled in his favour in November 2019 thus nullifying the primaries that produced David Lyon as APC governorship candidate.
Justice Jane Inyang’s ruling was challenged at the Appeal Court, Port Harcourt, where the APC obtained an interim order staying the order of the lower court which had barred David Lyon from participating in the November 16 governorship poll.
The interim order was to pave the way for David Lyon to participate in the state gubernatorial election where he emerged Bayelsa state governor-elect.
In dismissing the appeal on Saturday, Hon Justice Olefemi Akeju, who led Cordelia Ifeoma, Jombo Ofo and Abubakar M. Lamido, justices of the panel of the Court of Appeal, stated that the court is not a Father Christmas, hence issues not raised at the lower court, but if it went ahead to resolve, would lead to a situation it described as “descending into the arena of conflict.”
Justice Akeju stated that the case did not benefit any of the parties in the matter, a situation he described in law as perverse judgement, and accordingly struck out the ruling of the lower court.
On the second matter, which challenged the right of the governor-elect to go on appeal, the appellate court noted that the plaintiff has every right to seek redress, and thus ruled in his favour.
The court noted the third matter was time barred and that Lokpobiri failed to comply with the statutory 14-day period. Lokpobiri, the court held, ought to have filed the case not later than September 17, 2019. The matter was filed on September 18, outside the 14-day statutory period and as such the judge struck the case out.
Responding, counsel to the APC, Barr Sydney Igbani Chuka, expressed satisfaction with the court’s verdict, averring that the ruling at the lower court contradicts natural justice.
Barr Chuka however noted that his clients were at the appellate court because they were aggrieved by the ruling of the lower court.
Reacting to the ruling, Hon. Israel Sunny-Goli, the member representing Nembe/Brass Constituency in the Federal House of Representatives expressed happiness with the judgment and congratulated the governor-elect, the APC family and the entire state, for the victory at the Court of Appeal.
He called on all aggrieved parties to sheath the sword and join the new governor to move Bayelsa State forward.
