A group, the\u00a0Bayelsa\u00a0Youth Professional Forum, yesterday claimed that\u00a0core
\nloyalists of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the last
\ngovernorship election in the state,Timipre\u00a0Sylva, were already in
\ncelebration mood\u00a0following the decision of the Appeal Court to reserve
\nruling on his petition challenging the election of the state
\ngovernor,\u00a0Seriake\u00a0Dickson.<\/p>\n
The APC and Sylva had approached the Appeal Court seeking nullification of
\nthe\u00a0judgement\u00a0of the\u00a0election petitions tribunal which earlier held that
\nDickson\u00a0was validly elected in the December\/January election in the state.<\/p>\n
But the Court of Appeal had last Tuesday in Abuja reserved ruling on the
\nmatter.\u00a0The court is also sitting on\u00a0multiple appeals from
\nthe\u00a0judgement\u00a0of the\u00a0Bayelsa\u00a0State governorship election petition
\ntribunal.<\/p>\n
The group, in a statement yesterday, said\u00a0that Sylva\u2019s supporters were
\nrejoicing because of their hope that a\u00a0favourable\u00a0judgementwas in the
\noffing for the APC candidate at the Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n
In the statement signed by its President, Barrister KennethDaziba, and
\nmade available to the press\u00a0in Abuja, the group also claimed that
\nthe\u00a0confidence\u00a0of Sylva\u2019s\u00a0supporters\u00a0grew\u00a0when the Court of Appeal struck
\nout the preliminary objection filed by thePeoples\u00a0Democratic Party (PDP)
\nagainst\u00a0Sylva\u2019s appealchallenging the\u00a0judgement\u00a0of the state election
\npetitions tribunal which upheld Dickson\u2019s election.<\/p>\n
According to\u00a0Daziba, the said\u00a0core\u00a0loyalists\u00a0have\u00a0
\n\u201cstrategic individuals\u201d in the state\u00a0that they had received \u201cfirm
\nassurances\u201d from a \u201ckey point\u00a0man\u201d in the\u00a0Buhariadministration\u00a0who
\nallegedly instructed the three-man panel of judges sitting on the matter
\nto give ruling in\u00a0favour\u00a0of the APC.
\nHe alleged that\u00a0Sylva\u00a0had\u00a0recently\u00a0been\u00a0
\nVilla trying to seek audience with PresidentMuhammadu\u00a0Buhari\u00a0on the
\nmatter.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0group, however, warned on the\u00a0potential danger of perverting justice
\nand implication for peace in the Niger Delta, noting that its concern on
\nthe matter was \u201calready\u00a0a major source of worry\u00a0in some
\ninformed\u00a0circles\u00a0in the state\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings are said to be looking up for Sylva given the outcome\u00a0of the first
\nround of sitting at\u00a0the appellate court\u00a0which\u00a0also refused the application
\nby the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to amend its brief
\nby adding some words which it claimed were omitted. Sylva\u2019s supporters are
\nreally very hopeful\u00a0because the thinking is that once the\u00a0appellate\u00a0court
\ngrants them victory, it will simply prepare the ground for the Supreme
\nCourt to affirm the appellate court decision given the fact that most of
\nthe justices at the apex court are pro-APC. No wonder Sylva\u2019s supporters
\nare in the mood of celebration right now. But we must all be concerned
\nabout the price of any miscarriage of justice. This is why we are sending
\nthis warning signal to the judiciary not to allow itself to be used or
\nmanipulated by selfish politicians\u201d, it stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A group, the\u00a0Bayelsa\u00a0Youth Professional Forum, yesterday claimed that\u00a0core loyalists of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the last governorship election in the state,Timipre\u00a0Sylva, were already in celebration mood\u00a0following the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n