The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has reversed the disqualification of former minister of petroleum, Timipre Sylva, as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa state.
The Federal High Court in Abuja had, on October 9, disqualified Sylva from contesting the November 11 election in Bayelsa state.
In a judgement on Tuesday, a three-member panel of the appellate court held that the Federal High Court, Abuja lacked the jurisdiction to have heard and determined the case filed by Demesuoyefa Kolomo, who described himself as a registered voter and a member of the APC.
The court held that Kolomo lacked the locus standi to approach the court to challenge the nomination of the party’s candidate since he had not been an aspirant who participated in APC’s governorship primary.
While allowing the appeal filed by Sylva and granted all the reliefs sought, the appellate court set aside the Federal High Court judgement.
The court also awarded N1million cost in favour of Sylva.
In a separate judgement, the court also allowed a similar appeal filed on the same issue by the APC and equally awarded N1m cost in favour of the APC.