David Lyon’s Appeal Court’s Judgement Is A Victory For Everyone – APC

Posted by: Folamidavid in News, Politics Jan 12, 2020

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa has hailed the Court of Appeal for dismissing the pre-election suit filed against the state Governor-elect, David Lyon, by ex-Minister of State for Agriculture, Heineken Lokpobiri.

The court threw out the suit because it was filed out of time at the lower court.

According to Justice Isaiah Olufemi, who read the lead judgment on Saturday, Heineken did not comply with the statutory 14 days period and he should have filed the case not later than September 17, 2019.

Reacting to this judgment, the APC Publicity Secretary in the state, Doifie Buokoribo, has come out to say that it surely vindicated the position of the party at the lower court.

His words, “The judgment delivered today by the Court of Appeal represents a victory for all – Bayelsa, Nigeria, and democracy.

“We call on everybody to join hands with the governor-elect to build a better Bayelsa for all.”

Lyon will be sworn in on February 14.

Congrats to him.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) is a political party in Nigeria, formed on 6 February 2013 in anticipation of the 2015 elections. APC candidate Muhammadu Buhari won the presidential election by almost 2.6 million votes. Incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat on 31 March. This was the first time in Nigeria’s political history that an opposition political party unseated a governing party in a general election and one in which power transferred peacefully from one political party to another. In addition, the APC won the majority of seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives in the 2015 elections, though it fell shy of winning a super-majority to override the ability of the opposition People’s Democratic Party to block legislation.

Formed in February 2013, the party is the result of a merger of Nigeria’s three biggest opposition parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the new PDP – a faction of then ruling People’s Democratic Party. The resolution was signed by Tom Ikimi, who represented the ACN; Senator Annie Okonkwo on behalf of the APGA; Ibrahim Shekarau, the Chairman of ANPP’s Merger Committee; and Garba Shehu, the Chairman of CPC’s Merger Committee. Ironically, less than 2 years before the party’s historic victory in the 2015 elections, Messrs. Annie Okonkwo, Tom Ikimi and Ibrahim Shekarau resigned from the party and joined the PDP.

The APC is generally considered to be a centre-left political party that favors controlled market economic policies, and a strong and active role for government regulation. A substantial number of its political leaders are followers of or politicians who subscribe to the social democratic political philosophy of Obafemi Awolowo and the socialist and anti-class views of Aminu Kano. Moreover, the majority of the APC’s base of political support is in southwestern Nigeria and Northern Nigeria, which are dominated by the country’s largest ethnic groups, the Yoruba and the Hausa-Fulani, respectively.