‘The petition was filed late’ — appeal court dismisses Lokpobiri’s case against Lyon

The court of appeal in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, has struck out the suit challenging the emergence of David Lyon as the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

Heineken Lokpobiri, a former minister of state for agriculture, had instituted the case against Lyon and the APC alleging that he won the September 4 governorship primary election of the party.

Two days to the governorship election, Jane Inyang, judge of a federal high court in Yenagoa on November 14, 2019, ruled in favour of Lokpobiri, nullifying the primary election which produced Lyon as governorship candidate.

However, the APC obtained an interim order from the court of appeal staying the order of the lower court which barred them from participating in the November 16 governorship poll.

Lyon eventually emerged winner of the election with 352,552 votes.

In the judgment on Saturday, Isaiah Olufemi, the judge, held that Lokpobiri failed to comply with the statutory 14 days period, saying that he ought to have filed the case not later than September 17, 2019.

“The matter was filed on Sept. 18, outside the 14 days statutory period. The petition was not filed within time,’’ he said.