Bayelsa guber poll: Tension as court hears ineligibility suit against Sylva’s running mate Friday
There is tension in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, over the resumed hearing of the substantive suit filed against the Bayelsa All Progressives Congress, APC, Deputy Governorship candidate, Great Joshua Maciver, over his alleged ineligibility to contest the November 11th gubernatorial poll.
A female governorship aspirant of the APC, Ikisima Johnson, who also participated and lost the party’s governorship primaries to the eventual winner, Chief Timipre Sylva, is challenging the eligibility of Joshua Maciver and seeking his disqualification as the party’s running mate.
DAILY POST gathered that the petition is on the alleged grounds that he is an ex-convict who was sentenced to 10 years prison term for Terrorism and Sea Piracy but escaped from prison without completing his sentence.
In suit number FHC/YNG/CS114/2023/, the APC was listed as the first defendant, while the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Timipre Sylva, and Joshua MacIver are the second, third and fourth defendants, respectively.
Also, a civil society group, Coalition for Social Justice and Equity Initiative, has raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme,PAP, Maj Gen Barry Tariye Ndiomu (rtd.) and Sylva to insert Maciver’s mame into the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, database and tender an affidavit to back it up in the court.
The group in a statement issued in Yenagoa, on Wednesday, called on the Presiding Judge, Justice Olaide Quadiri, and the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to be on the alert in order to stop the alleged plot.
The Coalition for Social Justice and Equity Initiative, through its Public Relations Officer, Ezra Areo, said, “Information at our disposal has revealed that the duo of the Presidential Amnesty Boss, Maj Gen Barry Tariye Ndiomu (rtd.), the Governorship aspirant of APC, Chief Timipre Sylva are plotting to insert the name of the embattled running mate, Joshua Maciver into the Amnesty beneficiaries platform and are planning to submit an affidavit to that effect to the court Thursday.
“We are calling on the presiding judge and the inspector general of police to be aware that the document to be tendered are fake and an allege attempt to lie on oat. Joshua Maciver has long been verified not to be on the list of Amnesty Beneficiaries.”
The Bayelsa APC Deputy Governorship candidate, Maciver, was, a few months ago, enmeshed in controversy over his alleged conviction and involvement in jailbreak.
It was reported that he was convicted by a court and sent to Kaduna Prison to serve a 10 years sentence for sea piracy and terrorism.
The group added, “Maciver was never a fighter for the people, he was a convicted sea pirate and terrorist, he escaped from prison in 2006 and was already out of the creeks in late 2007 and early 2008 hiding in Bayelsa Government House with Timipre Sylva the then Governor, when Amnesty had not been proclaimed, for fear of being rearrested and returned to prison.
“Maciver has over the years publicly claimed to have accepted the Amnesty Programme, however, he never presented himself for proper documentation like the 30,000 Amnesty beneficiaries to the Presidential Amnesty team. Maciver was not alone in this reasoning as over 10,000 ex-agitators felt the same way.”
The group argued that, due to the nature of the crimes for which Maciver was allegedly convicted, he cannot be a beneficiary of the Federal Government’s amnesty for militants.
“In the case Joshua Maciver, he was allegedly convicted by a competent court of jurisdiction sometime in 2006, for murder and terrorism and an alleged fugitive which conviction has no relation with militancy activity, therefore the amnesty proclamation of 2009 which cannot operate to serve as a pardon for the conviction of the offences committed by Joshua Maciver, which is not in any way associated with militant activities in the Niger-Delta,” the group added.
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