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Bayelsa Guber Race: Court Orders INEC To Include PDP Candidate
There was wide jubilation yesterday in Barrister Seriake Dicksons’ camp following an Abuja court’s order directing the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to include his name as a candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in next month’s governorship election in Bayelsa State.
Last week, the electoral body released a total of 35 names representing different parties for the election without naming any person in the PDP, because of what it called “litigation”.
However, Dickson approached the Abuja court for remedy and an interim injunction directing INEC to include his name was obtained.
Justice G.K. Olotu gave the order following an application for “judiciary review by way of mandamus” in terms of the reliefs set out in the statement of facts that accompanied the application.
Justice Olotu after hearing the submission of Barristers F. N. Nwosu and Obinna Mbuka, counsels for Hon. Dickson in a 17 paragraph affidavit restrained INEC from further removing or excluding the applicant and his deputy, John Jonah as duly nominated candidates of PDP from contesting the February election in Bayelsa State.
The order according to the court is given under rule 34(5)(3) of the Federal High, and thereafter adjourned the case to January 26 for hearing.
Immediately the news filtered in Yenagoa, there was a wild jubilations among PDP supporters in Dickson’s camp. A party stalwart described the situation as positive development in the efforts to bring change to the state.
But in his reaction, Chief Timpre Sylva, described the order as “strange, despicable, and untenable.” An Abuja Federal High Court granted the order late Wednesday night under an unusually heavy police presence, which compels the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish the name of Mr. Seriake Dickson as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the February 11, governorship election in the state.
The governor on INEC to challenge the “immoral, ungodly and pathetic” court order obtained by fraud in the dead of the night.
Speaking through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Doifie Ola, Sylva said the order and the processes leading to it were “a grave insult to the integrity of the judiciary”.
Governor Sylva noted that prior to the events of Wednesday, he had instructed his lawyers to do a permanent search at the court registry to monitor the judiciary in case his adversaries were up to any tricks. Through the search at the registry, his lawyers found the pendency of a suit filed by Dickson against INEC requesting for an order of mandamus to compel the electoral commission to publish his name as the PDP candidate for the 2012 gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State.
He explained that when the finding was brought to his attention, he instructed his lawyers to file a joinder, as an interested party, requesting a stay of proceedings on the suit, pending the determination of the motion for joinder.
Sylva observed that on Wednesday, 17 January, both parties were in court until 6.30pm, and about that time, the registrar of the court called the lawyer to Dickson into the chambers. The governor’s lawyer was not invited, but he followed them into the chambers. In the chamber, the judge, Mrs. Olotu, pointedly told his lawyer that she did not invite him, but the lawyer insisted he was an interested party in the matter and deserved to be there.
The governor noted that at this point, the judge threatened his lawyer with armed policemen, saying if he did not go away, the police would be instructed to throw him out forcefully. Out of respect for the institution of the judiciary, Sylva’s lawyer left the judge’s chamber, but he remained in court till 9pm, when about 100 policemen were brought into the court premises to forcefully chase out the lawyer and other sympathisers of Governor Sylva.
Sylva said he later learnt that 15 minutes after the police action, after his lawyer and supporters had been chased out, an order was granted by the judge.
Sylva is aware that what Dickson sought was an ex parte motion for relief to compel INEC to put his name as PDP candidate. But the judge went ahead and granted not only the leave to compel INEC to publish the name, but also the mandatory order to compel INEC to put Dickson’s name as the PDP candidate.
The governor observed that in so doing, Justice Olotu determined the substantive relief sought by Dickson at the ex parte stage, which meant that INEC was not heard, his application for stay was not heard, and the relief Dickson was seeking had been heard at this preliminary stage.
“It is sad that on these matters that are awaiting determination at the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, a judge of the Federal High Court of Nigeria will go ahead to hear and give a ruling,” Sylva observed.
Governor Sylva observed that there was enough material before the court to show that the subject matter of Dickson’s application was a matter of litigation at the Supreme Court. He interpreted the Justice Olotu’s action as sitting on an appeal that is before the Supreme Court
Sylva sees the speed with which the matter has been determined as a clear pointer to the fact that the judge was interested not only in justice but in some other special interests.
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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