Mrs Ogbomade Johnson, an All Progressives Congress (APC) aspirant for the Nov. 11 Bayelsa governorship election, has claimed that the Governorship Candidate of the APC for the Nov. 11 election in Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, has already served as governor of Bayelsa State and as such is not eligible to be the APC candidate for the coming election.
However, Timipre Sylva has come out to say that he has not served two terms as the governor of Bayelsa State like Mrs Ogbomade Johnson had alleged. In a counter affidavit Sylva submitted at the court where Mrs Ogbomade Johnson had taken the matter to, Sylva said that he contested as governor in the 2007 General Elections and he was declared the winner by INEC and was subsequently sworn in as the executive governor of Bayelsa State on the 29th May, 2007.
He went on to say that after he was sworn in on 29th May, 2007, his election as governor was nullified by the Court of Appeal and INEC was ordered to conduct a re-run election. He noted that the re-run was conducted by INEC and he was declared the winner and was sworn in as governor on the 27th May, 2008.
Timipre Sylva told the court that when the case went to the Supreme Court, the court held that he won the election, however, the court said that his tenure in office as governor is to be counted from 29th May, 2007, when he was first sworn in and not 27th May, 2008.
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