Law News
A’Court stops bid to unseat Bayelsa senator

Senator Foster Ogola has floored Senator Heineken Lokpobiri in the legal tussle to represent Bayelsa West Senatorial District in the Senate.

In a judgment at the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt, Justice Shuabi Yakub, in an unanimous ruling, upheld Senator Ogola’s appeal in Appeal No. CA/PH/96/2015.

The judgment has therefore ended Lokpobiri’s bid for a third term at the nation’s upper legislative chamber.

The court therefore struck out Lokpobiri’s suit No. FHC/YNG/CS/03/2015 pending at the Federal High Court, Yenagoa, for lack of jurisdiction and abuse of court processes. It described the suit as “forum shopping.”

All the five justices in the Appeal court unanimously held that Lokpobiri’s suit ought to have been filed at a High Court and not the Federal High Court in view of the pre-election matters contained therein.

The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared the appellant as winner of the Peoples Democratic Party primaries held at the Isaac Jasper Boro College of Education, Sagbama on December 7, 2014.

Ogola had scored 69 votes at the primaries and also emerged victorious in the senatorial election of March 28 in the senatorial district.

Lokpobiri, on the other hand, emerged winner at a parallel primaries conducted also in Sagbama.

He had challenged the emergence of Ogola and prayed the court to substitute him (Lokpobiri) as the winner of the election.

Reacting to the Court of Appeal ruling, Ogola described the judgment as a reflection of the true situation, considering the facts before the court.

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