Court Dismisses Lokpobiri’s Case, Affirms Lyon As Bayelsa APC Candidate

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, affirmed the Bayelsa State governor-elect, David Lyon, as the valid candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the last governorship election in the state.

A five-man panel of the court led by Justice Mary Peter-Odili unanimously dismissed the appeal filed by Heineken Lokpobiri, who had instituted his case seeking to be declared the valid winner of September 4, 2019, primary election of the All Progressives Congress.

Delivering the lead judgement of the apex court, Justice Inyang Okoro affirmed the January 11, 2020 judgement of the Port Harcourt Division of the Court of Appeal, which had held that Lokpobiri’s suit challenging Lyon’s victory in the primary election was filed out of time at the Federal High Court, Yenogoa.

The Federal High Court in Yenegoa had in its judgment delivered on November 14, 2019, upheld Lokpobiri’s case and nullified Lyon’s nomination as the APC’s candidate for the November 17, 2019 governorship election in the state.

But the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt, on January 11, 2019, upturned the Federal High Court judgement and affirmed Lyon’s nomination.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the Court of Appeal’s judgement laying to rest the dispute about the APC’s nominated candidate for the governorship poll.