Business

Bayelsa Guber: Why Court Disqualified APC Candidate, Sylva

Published

2 years ago

October 10, 2023

Editor

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has disqualified the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the governorship election billed to hold in Bayelsa State on November 11, Mr. Timipre Sylva.

The court, in a judgement that was delivered by Justice Donatus Okorowo, held that Sylva, who is the immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, was not eligible to participate in the gubernatorial contest having already spent five years in office as governor of the state.

The court stressed that since the 1999 Constitution, as amended, okayed a maximum tenure of eight years for a governor, should Sylva contest and win the impending election, he would exceed the constitutional threshold by spending a total of nine years in office.

Justice Okorowo held that uncontroverted evidence that was adduced before the court, established that Sylva had earlier taken the oath of office as Bayelsa state governor, on two occasions.

Relying on a Supreme Court decided case-law in Marwa Vs Nyako, the judge held that the constitution could not be stretched to elongate the statutory period that someone could serve as a governor in the country.

Consequently, he declared that Sylva was not a valid candidate for the forthcoming Bayelsa state governorship poll.

The court directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to remove his name from the list of candidates for the election.

The judgement followed a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/821/2023, which was brought against Sylva by a chieftain of the APC in the state, Mr. Demesuoyefa Kolomo.

The plaintiff had in the suit he filed on June 13, prayed the court to among other things, determine: “Whether having regard to the indisputable fact that Sylva occupied the office of governor of Bayelsa from May 29, 2007, to April 15, 2008, and May 27, 2008, to January 27, 2012, he is qualified to contest and be elected for another four years term in view of section 180(2)(a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).”

Upon the determination of the legal question, the plaintiff sought a declaration that by virtue of Section 182(1)(b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Sylva, was not qualified to contest the election to the office of the governor of Bayelsa on the APC platform or on any other political party’s platform in the election.

He further sought an order directing INEC to remove Sylva’s name from the list of the contestants into the office of the governor of Bayelsa on the APC platform or any other political party’s platform in the 11 November election or any other time for that matter as he was not qualified to contest the said poll.

The plaintiff told the court that he is not only a member of the APC, but also a registered voter in the state.

He averred that the ex-Minister was first elected to the office of governor on April 14, 2007 and assumed the said office on May 29, 2007, and was in the said office until April 15, 2008 when his election on April 14, 2007, was set aside by the court and he was removed from office.

Cited as 1st to 3rd defendants in the matter, were Sylva, the APC and the INEC, respectively.

Meanwhile, Sylva had in his defence, argued that he had only occupied the office of the governor of Bayelsa on one occasion, adding that he was elected into office on May 27, 2008.

In a counter-affidavit he filed before the court, Sylva contended that no valid election held in the state in 2007.

“I have only occupied the office of the governor of Bayelsa state on one occasion. I was elected as the governor of Bayelsa State on 27th May, 2008.

“Contrary to paragraph 5 of the affidavit, I know that by virtue of the Court of Appeal judgment referred to, that is now reported as Amgbare Vs. Sylva (2009) 1 NWLR (Pt. 1121), there was no election in Bayelsa State in 2007,” he added.

The erstwhile governor maintained that it was within his constitutional and legal rights to participate in the governorship contest.

He argued that sections 180 (2)(a) and 182 (1) (b) of the Constitution was not applicable in his case, a position that Justice Okorowo dismissed in his judgement.

The court held that it found merit in the case of the plaintiff.

Business

Okonjo-Iweala Reveals How Nigeria Can Dominate AfCFTA

Published

5 hours ago

September 23, 2025

Editor

The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, says Nigeria has what it takes to lead Africa’s new era of trade if it tackles high logistics costs, develops efficient payment systems, and invests in value addition.

Okonjo-Iweala, who was speaking on the sidelines of the WTO Public Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, said Nigeria and other African economies must speed up the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, and build stronger infrastructure to unlock billions of dollars in opportunities in manufacturing, services, and digital trade.

“The AfCFTA is a great step, but Africa trades only about 15–20 percent within itself — far below the European Union, EU’s 60 percent. We (Nigeria) need to speed up implementation so Africans trade more with each other.

“Take Lesotho: it exports around $200 million worth of textiles (jeans, etc.) to the U.S. — about 10 percent of its GDP — while Africa imports $7 billion of similar goods. Why not absorb Lesotho’s products within Africa? To unlock intra-African trade, we (Nigeria) need efficient payment systems (Afreximbank and others are working on this), better infrastructure and lower trade costs. It shouldn’t take longer to ship goods from Cape Town to Lagos than from China to Lagos.

“With critical minerals, energy, and new supply chains, plus opportunities in services and digital trade, there’s huge potential — if we invest in connectivity and implementation,” she said.

The former Nigeria’s Minister of Finance also cautioned that negative narratives about global commerce risk overshadowing recent successes achieved through multilateral cooperation.

Business

French Media Giant Canal+ Takes Over S.Africa’s Multichoice

Published

1 day ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

French media giant Canal+ said Monday it had taken effective control of South African television and streaming company MultiChoice, creating a group present in nearly 70 countries in Africa, Europe and Asia.

The companies said in a joint statement that the combined group will have a workforce of 17,000 employees and serve more than 40 million subscribers.

The acquisition is “the largest transaction ever undertaken” by Canal+, the statement said.

Canal+, which is already the sector’s leader in French-speaking African countries, now controls what it described as the leader in the continent’s English- and Portuguese-speaking regions.

“This acquisition allows us to strengthen our position as a leader in Africa, one of the most dynamic pay-TV markets in the world,” Canal+ chief executive Maxime Saada said in the statement.

The buyout was given a final green light by South Africa’s competition authority in late July, more than a year after Canal+ launched its bid.

Canal+ offered 125 rand ($7.2) per share for MultiChoice when it launched its offer last year, valuing the South African firm at around $3.0 billion.

Canal+ is present in 25 African countries through 16 subsidiaries and has eight million subscribers.

MultiChoice operates in 50 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and has 14.5 million subscribers.

It includes Africa’s premier sports broadcaster, SuperSport, and the DStv satellite television service.

AFP

Business

BREAKING: Nigeria’s GDP Grows By 4.23% In Q2 2025 – NBS

Published

1 day ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.23 per cent (year-on-year) in the second quarter of 2025, the National Bureau of Statistics revealed in its Q2 2025 GDP Report.

According to the report released on Monday on its website, the figure shows a significant improvement compared to 3.48 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2024 and the 3.13 per cent recorded in Q1 2025.

The figures signal a strengthening economy, driven by recent rebasing, rebound in oil production and a resilient non-oil sector.

The report said, “Following the rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product using 2019 as the base year, previous quarterly GDP estimates were benchmarked to the rebased annual estimates to align the old series with the new rebased estimates

“This procedure provided a new quarterly GDP series, which is compared to the 2025 second quarter estimates. Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.23% (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2025.

“This growth rate is higher than the 3.48 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2024. During the quarter under review, agriculture grew by 2.82%, an improvement from the 2.60% recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2024.

According to NBS, “The growth of the industry sector stood at 7.45% from 3.72% recorded in the second quarter of 2024, while the Services sector recorded a growth of 3.94% from 3.83% in the same quarter of 2024.”

The report said in terms of share of the GDP, “the Industry sector contributed more to the aggregate GDP in the second quarter of 2025 at 17.31% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2024 at 16.79%.”

It added, “In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP at basic price stood at N100,730,501.10 million in nominal terms. This performance is higher when compared to the second quarter of 2024, which recorded an aggregate GDP of N84,484,878.46 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 19.23%.”

Details later…