The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the withdrawal of the name of Timipre Sylva and his running mate, Joshua Maciver as the candidate of the party in the Bayelsa governorship election in the amended list released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as premature.
The ruling party insisted that delisting the party’s candidate, in the circumstances, as INEC has done, preempts the outcome of the valid appeal in the matter.
The amended list uploaded on the commission’s website on Tuesday indicated that the name of Sylva and his running mate were missing.
TheHintsNews reports that the High Court had on October 9 disqualified Sylva as the candidate of the party.
But the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Felix Morka, in a statement issued said its candidate and party promptly appealed the judgment and brought other processes seeking stay of the judgment’s execution.
Morka noted that the Court of Appeal, recognising the extreme urgency of the matter, granted an order of accelerated hearing of the matter now fixed for definite hearing on Friday October 27, 2023, stressing that INEC is a party in this matter and has been served with all relevant filings and orders in this matter.
The Spokesperson maintained that removing the party’s candidate from the list of governorship contestants in Bayelsa would foist a situation of helplessness on the appellate court, the candidate and APCshould the appeal succeed.
He said: “The attention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been drawn to the updated list of gubernatorial candidates for the November 11 governorship election in Bayelsa State by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which excluded the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate’s name, Chief Timipre Sylva.
“Delisting our Candidate, in the circumstances, as INEC has done, is clearly premature, and preempts the outcome of the valid appeal in the matter. This flies in the face of INEC’s established practice of awaiting the decisions of appellate courts before taking action that may be prejudicial to the interest of the appellants.
“Furthermore, removing our candidate from the list of governorship contestants in Bayelsa would foist a situation of helplessness on the appellate court, the Candidate and our Party should the appeal succeed. We urge INEC to withdraw its amendment under reference in the interest of fairness.
“In the meantime, we appeal to the good people of Bayelsa State, especially our teeming members and supporters, to remain calm while the judicial process runs its full course. We have confidence that our candidate will be victorious both at the Court of Appeal and at the polls.”