Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal by a former Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Heineken Lokpobiri, challenging the emergency of Bayelsa State governor-elect, David Lyon, as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the September 4, 2019 governorship primary of the party.
He specifically challenged the decision of the Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, which dismissed his appeal for being statute-barred.
A five-man panel of judges led by Justice Peter Odili in a unanimous judgment dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.
Justice Iyang Okoro, who delivered the lead judgment, agreed with the Court of Appeals to that the suit filed by Lokpobiri at the Federal High Court was statute-barred as it was filed outside the 14 days provided by section 285 (9) of the 4th Alteration Act.
Lokpobiri had approached the court asking it to declare him, and not Lyon, as the authentic candidate of the APC.
