National chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the November governorship election in Bayelsa Duoye Diri, will not be sworn in on Friday.
Reacting to the Supreme Court Judgment on Thursday which sacked APC’s David Lyon, as governor-elect, Oshiomhole contended that the PDP candidate did not meet the requirements to be declared winner, hence he said there would be no government in Bayelsa from Friday February 14, being the date for the swearing in of the new governor.
Oshiomhole, while addressing a press conference in Abuja said: “Nobody has raised issues about whether or not David Lyon and his running mate won overwhelming majority in the said election. Issues of whether a chieftaincy title is part of a name or is not a name in our view couldn’t be a reason to dismissed the wishes of the great people of Bayelsa state who repose absolute confidence in the way in which they elected David Lyon and his running mate during the last governorship election,” he said.
“Let me also say that it is not a state secret, if as the supreme court has ruled, David Lyon cannot now be sworn in as the person who has the highest number of votes and the spread to be sworn in, it simply means from tomorrow there will be no government in Bayelsa state.
“But, as far as we know the next candidate, as the facts are before court, who happens to be a PDP candidate does not have one quarter of the total lawful vote cast in that election in 2/3 of the local government councils in Bayelsa state. And, therefore from the fact available to us, in consultation with our lawyers, it is clear that there is no candidate that meets the requirements of the supreme court, which means no one can be sworn in legally tomorrow unless there is a delibrate abuse of the legal process.
“We have accordingly asked our lawyers to look at all the windows that exist in law, and take steps to ensure that the will of the people of Bayelsa state is not undermined on the alter of technicalities. I am not a lawyer and I don’t need to be one. When judges make judgement they are published and you can read and write. Even laymen like me can understand.”
READ ALSO: UPDATED: Supreme Court Sacks Bayelsa Governor-elect Lyon
Oshiomhole said Lyon won convincingly, saying a candidate who lost the election could not be imposed on the people of Bayelsa.
In a manner which seemed as if he was blaming the supreme court, Oshiomhole said when a similar case was brought before the apex court in 1999, INEC was ordered to conduct a fresh election.
“In 1999, there was a similar case in Bauchi involving Gov. Adamu Muazu. The court found out that the running mate was not qualified for whatever reason to contest that election and accordingly the supreme court nullified the election of Gov. Adamu Muazu. And, the court as a consequence directed INEC to conduct a fresh election.
“I believe it is still the same supreme court and therefore we have asked our lawyers to exploit all lawful legal windows to ensure that Bayelsa people have a governor of their choice.
“I have chosen to respond to this judgement so that we do not live the great people of Bayelsa in doubt as to where we stand. We stand by them. I also want the Nigeria public to know the position of the APC.
“Let me say that as bad as the case of Zamfara was, where after we have won the governorship election, senatorial, house of reps and assembly elections, the court held that APC didn’t conduct primary in the state and, therefore didn’t participate in the election. This one is totally different.”
