Appeal Court Upholds Dickson’s Victory …Dismisses Sylva, APC’s Appeal

The Court of Appeal sit
ting in Abuja, yesterday, declined to annul the election of Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State.
The court, in an unanimous judgement by a five man panel of Justices, dismissed joint appeal of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and its governorship candidate in the state, Mr. Timipre Sylva, lodged against Dickson.
The appellate court panelled by Justice Rotimi Olukayode Bada, held that the appeal lacked merit, even as it upheld the July 26 verdict of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which declared Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’ as the bona-fide winner of the gubernatorial contest.
The appellants had through their lawyer, Mr. Sebastine Hon, SAN, prayed the appellate court to set-aside the decision of the tribunal, sack Dickson and order fresh governorship election in Bayelsa State.
Sylva who is a former governor of the state and his party, among other things, contended that the tribunal misled itself, misapplied the law and came to wrong conclusion in its verdict when it declined to void the election which they said was fraught with manifest irregularities ..
They argued that the tribunal erred in law when it held that the reasons INEC gave on why it cancelled election result in some parts of the state was within the provision of section 26(1) of the Electoral Act, 2010.
They argued that Section 26(1) of the Electoral Act made no provision for “cancellation” of election, but “postponement” of election.
According to the appellants, “The phrase ‘other emergencies’ under section 26(1) of the Electoral Act is limited to the action of INEC ‘postponing’ an election and not ‘cancelling’ one that had already taken place”.
They further argued that the tribunal Judges, “misdirected themselves in law when they held that the appellants failed to prove and or tender any documents showing that election results had been uploaded on the database of INEC before the cancellation of the election and that such failure not only meant abandonment of pleading, but withholding of evidence, which if tendered, would be fatal to the appellants”.
It is their argument that the tribunal erred in law when, in its haste to dismiss the appellants’ case in respect of Southern Ijaw LGA, deliberately refused to judicially evaluate the evidence called by the appellants in proof of their case in that LGA.
It was position of the appellants that no election or collation or results, known to law, took place in Southern Ijaw LGA.
They also faulted the tribunal for failing to void Dickson’s election when it found that the combined result of election recorded by both candidates was 48,146, less than over 120,000 total registered voters in Southern Ijaw LGA.