The Supreme Court yesterday affirmed the election of the governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Seriake Dickson.
The five justices of the apex court, led by Justice Walter Onnonghen, unanimously dismissed the appeal filed by the Change Advocacy Party (CAP) against the governor.
CAP had asked the Election Petition Tribunal to hold that Dickson was not qualified to contest for the February 11, 2012 election, which he won on the platform of the PDP,? because his name was not published by INEC as one of the candidates for the election.
Both the Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal have held that the publication of the list of candidate and the sponsorship of the candidate were not the same.
?“There is a difference between publication of the list of candidates and sponsorship of candidates for election. The 1st respondent (Dickson) was validly sponsored by the 3rd respondent (PDP) and the fact that his name was initially removed and restored did not affect the validity of his sponsorship by his party,” the court said.
CAP filed a petition challenging the emergence of Dickson, who won the February 11 governorship election, insisting that he was not a candidate of PDP for the election.
The party lost its case at the tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which dismissed it as lacking in merit.
Dissatisfied with the decisions of the tribunal and the Appeal Court, CAP and its governorship candidate in the state, Imoro Kabi approached the apex court, asking it to rule in their favour.
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