A socio-cultural
organisation, Niger-Delta Peace and Justice Movement on Sunday, October
30, 2016 raised the alarm that the governorship candidate of the All
Progressives Congress, APC, in the last election in Bayelsa State,
Timipre Sylva, was trying to frustrate the Supreme Court from serving
him with the counter appeal filed by the incumbent governor Henry
Seriake Dickson.
The organisation also accused him of
using surrogates in the media to sponsor “untenable whitewashing” to
canvass for a favourable position on his appeal against the election of
the state governor.
The general secretary of NDPJM, Stephen
Ebibofa, in a statement claimed that Sylva was trying to buy time by
dodging the Supreme Court bailiffs from serving him or his lawyer the
appeal papers.
According to hm, it was obvious that Sylva’s antics were meant to manipulate the judiciary for a favour in the case.
Governor Dickson, PDP and INEC had
countered Sylva’s appeal challenging the verdict of the Court of Appeal
which had upheld Dickson’s election. But all attempts by the apex court
bailiffs to serve Sylva, it was gathered, proved abortive for the whole
of last week.
Investigations showed that the Lead
Counsel to Sylva, Sebastine Hon, SAN, shut his Abuja office, located at
16, Dan Suleiman Street, behind Utako Market in Utako Central Business
District in Abuja, throughout last week to evade being served with the
court papers.
It was further gathered that the
bailiffs, who were sighted at Hon’s office on Thursday and Friday last
week, left the office frustrated.
However, sources close to Sylva hinted
that the office will continue to be shut for the whole of this week to
drag the matter further and buy time until a new Chief Justice of
Nigeria (CJN) is appointed on November 10 before Sylva and his lawyer
will be available for service of the court papers.
Ebibofa intimated in the statement that
the Presidency and APC leadership were heaping pressure on the current
CJN not to assign the Sylva appeal to any panel of justices until
Justice Onoghen is sworn in as CJN. This, he stated, was a calculated
attempt to influence the course of justice as he warned of the
consequences of such intentions.
“Sylva is causing unnecessary delay to
avoid the hearing of the appeal he brought before the Supreme Court. It
is instructive for all patriots to note that the likes of Sylva are a
threat to our democracy and judiciary. Obviously, he has no respect for
institutions of state, believing that any institution can be bought or
rubbished as he’s bragging and boasting all over and dropping the name
of President Muhammadu Buhari but he can’t escape the proper hearing of
this consequential appeal”, the group stated.
When contacted last night, the Special
Adviser on Media Relations to Governor Dickson, Francis Agbo criticized
Sylva for wasting the precious time of the Supreme Court and advised the
apex court not to be intimidated by Sylva and the APC.
While declaring that Bayelsans
overwhelmingly re-elected Governor Dickson in the polls, Agbo noted that
Sylva’s hide and seek game will not distract the Governor from
delivering on his campaign promises to the people.
Ebibofa also lashed out at the former
governor for his alleged sponsorship of “untenable whitewashing’
publications in the media to canvass for a “questionable ruling” at the
apex court.
He drew specific attention to a publication by one Anayo Okolie in ThisDay Newspapers
dated October 30 and entitled: “Bayelsa: Who is afraid of the Supreme
Court” which, he claimed, went beyond the curve of objective journalism.
“The resort to using sponsored
surrogates in the media cannot save Sylva and his acolytes as we believe
justice will be done as a necessity in this case”.
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