Lyon: The Man Who Saw The ‘Promise Land’ But…Loses 24 Hrs To Swearing-In

Mr. David Lyon, Governor-elect of Bayelsa state hope of becoming a Governor tomorrow, has been thwarted as the Supreme Court on Thursday voided his election and that of his running mate, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo.

Lyon, like the biblical Moses, literally saw the ‘promise land’ but couldn’t enter as the apex court, in its ruling held that Degi-Ermienyo, Lyon’s running mate was not qualified to have contested the election with the APC governorship candidate.

Sadly, he was sacked by a five-man panel of the court headed by Justice Mary Peter-Odili at the twilight of the preparation for his swearing in tomorrow, Friday.

Lyon’s misfortune is coming barely a day after a section of Bayelsain booed the outgoing governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, for losing the PDP controlled state to the main opposition party, APC.

BIGPEN Online recalls that protesters had blocked Dickson from leaving the Government House in Yenagoa reportedly in protest over non-payment of their December salaries.

But some of the protesters had accused Dickson of destructing the party before his exit, saying he “kill our party when we dey manage”.

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Dickson’s travail in Bayelsa, reportedly started after he singlehandedly chose a successor, who is currently basking on the euphoria of the Supreme Court Judgement, against the advice of many bigwigs in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), including former President Goodluck Jonathan.

He choice had caused huge disaffection within the ranks of the party in the state and supposed defeat which has been upturned against the APC.

But on Thursday, what supposed to be a woeful day of exit for Dickson as Governor became a good fortune day as the Supreme Court upheld the November 12, 2019 judgment by Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja which had disqualified Degi-Eremienyo in the election for submitting forged certificates with multiple names to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

That judgment caused Lyon his ticket.

According to Justice Ejembi Ekwo, who read the lead judgment which was upheld by the Supreme Court, in view of the discrepancies in the names certificates submitted by Degi-Eremienyo to INEC, he was not qualified for the election.

The learned Justice therefore proceeded to disqualify the APC deputy governorship candidate as a candidate in the election.

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“Degi-Eremienyo’s disqualification had infected the joint ticket with which he and the governorship candidate, Lyon, ran for and won the November 16, 2019 election”, he stated.

Justice Ejembi Ekwo , then ordered INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to the All Progressives Congress’ candidates as the winners of the November 16, 2019 governorship election in the state.

The apex court ordered INEC to issue fresh certificates to the candidates of the party with the next highest votes and with the required constitutional spread of votes in the results of the election, which are the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidates.