Court grants stay of execution of court ruling on Bayelsa APC primaries

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has granted Stay of Execution on the court order that nullified the Bayelsa State All Progressives Congress governorship primaries that produced Mr. David Lyon as its candidate for the November 16 election.

The leader of the APC in Bayelsa State, and Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, who spoke at a pressure conference in Yenagoa, the state capital, on the stay of execution order, asked party supporters to stand firm.

This comes after the court had declared on Thursday that the APC didn’t follow constitutional guidelines in its primaries hence the party has no candidate for the November 16th election in the state.

The case was presided over by Justice Jane Inyang. One of the APC governorship aspirants, Senator Heineken Lopkobiri had earlier approached the court asking it to declare him, and not David Lyon, the authentic candidate of the APC.

Counsel to Lopkobiri in reaction to the court ruling described the judgment as strange. According to him, the judgment delivered was not part of their prayer when they approached the court. Meanwhile, Lyon’s counsel says the party has begun the process of appealing the court’s judgment.
The ruling is coming two days to the election.