Election Tribunal: Sylva’s Ludicrous Chase Of Power, by Fidelis Igbogi

That Chief Timipre Sylva, is chasing vague hope of returning to power through the back door as Governor of Bayelsa State is laughable! His desperation is off the mark!

It was indeed a tough call for Chief Sylva and his party, All Progressive Congress (APC) in the November 11, 2023 Gubernatorial Election contesting against the incumbent and the “People’s Governor”, Senator Douye Diri of the PDP.

Their defeat at the poll was predicted. Every single survey, including  those conducted by the opposition, ahead of the election suggested a massive victory for Diri of the PDP in all the eight Local Government Areas.

The survey outcomes were unambiguous. Diri; was to win convincingly in Sylva’s homes LGAs of Brass and Nembe. The governor’s prosperity agenda of his administration had sold Senator Diri to the electorate in the home stead of his opponent. The Nembe people had come to terms with the popular saying that a good friend is better than a bad brother!

Their conviction was strengthened by several  developmental projects embarked upon in the areas by the transformational approach to governance through various projects by the governor. The historic Nembe-Brass road started by the Prosperity Government was the icing on the cake and the needed tonic to deliver Senator Diri for the second tenure.

Interestingly, out of the three constituencies in Sylva’s Brass LGA, Diri won in two while Sylva managed to win in his own constituency after massive rigging and falsification of votes.

Furthermore, in Nembe LGA, Diri won in Constituency one, Sylva, compromised the election in Constituency 2, Bassambiri community with an orchestrated violent situation before election date. Sylva and his agents had a field day to execute their mass rigging recording over 90 percent of votes, a very impossible feat!

In Nembe constituency three, Sylva and his gang never allowed materials to get to any polling unit. They sat in Bassambiri and wrote results without voting as confirmed by INEC, a development that prompted outright cancellation.

Shamelessly, Sylva, claimed he won the election in Nembe constituency 3. This is one of the bases upon which Sylva approached the court for the Tribunal to accept the “cooked” votes and be added to his earlier declared results.

In fact, the lower Tribunal in its ruling delivered on May 17, 2024, in Abuja, chided Sylva that he needed to prove with concrete evidence that election truly held in the disputed 182 polling units.

The Tribunal held that the votes could not be backed by the BVAS accreditation machine and so, could not be accepted, more so that INEC had shown cause while the electoral body cancelled the process in the affected areas on the election day.

The court held that it is criminal to present forged documents to the Tribunal as INEC had denied those results tendered by Sylva.

Just yesterday, the Court of Appeal agreed with the position and ruling of the Lower Tribunal that the purported results being brandished by Sylva are fake and never emanated from the electoral body that conducted the November 11, 2023 Governorship Election in Bayelsa State.

The Judges said that forms EC40G’s presented by the umpire, INEC are evidence that election didn’t hold in the disputed 182 polling units from where the Appellants brought imaginary figures to the court to be added to his scores.

Accordingly, the Court said no cause has been shown for the judges to believe that BVAS machines and voter’s register were used at the disputed polling units.

They ruled that the results produced by the Police officers in favour of Sylva from these 182 polling units however, remain suspect and not tenable after INEC had denied them.

Again, Sylva and his party, APC, went after the Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo over his certificate.

Both the Lower Tribunal and the recent Court of Appeal verdict insisted that such an issue bothering on eligibility remains a pre-election matter and that in fact, documents before them showed that Ewhrudjakpo, was qualified to contest the election.

Oh yes, there are no loopholes for Sylva to explore in his desperate chase and move to upturn Diri’s re-election.

Governor Diri and his Deputy, are confident that no machination of Sylva can overturn the mandate freely given them by the people of Bayelsa State.

By implication, Diri, has successfully retired Timipre Sylva politically and his chances to return as governor after 11 years when he left office look bleak.

Sylva’s possible return won’t happen because the people have moved on with the new man on the seat, who is spreading developmental projects to every nooks and crannies of the State.

Bayelsans are testifying to the impactful progress made so far under the Prosperity Administration, hence, the rejection of Sylva and APC in the last election in the State.

Sylva, can now go and look for another business to invest in. This is a genuine piece of advice.

Fidelis Igbogi, writes from Yenagoa.