Tension is brewing in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State, over the resumed hearing of a legal case. The case involved the Bayelsa All Progressives Congress (APC) Deputy Governorship candidate, Great Joshua Maciver. Here are the details you need to know:
1. APC’s Governorship aspirant Ikisima Johnson, who lost the party’s governorship primaries, is challenging Joshua Maciver’s eligibility as the party’s running mate. She is alleging that Ikisima is an ex-convict who escaped from a 10-year prison sentence for Terrorism and Sea Piracy.
2. The lawsuit, numbered FHC/YNG/CS114/2023/, lists the APC as the first defendant, with the INEC, Timipre Sylva, and Joshua Maciver as the second, third, and fourth defendants, respectively.
3. A civil society group called the Coalition for Social Justice and Equity Initiative has raised concerns about an alleged plot by the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Maj Gen Barry Tariye Ndiomu (rtd.), and Timipre Sylva to add Maciver’s name to the PAP database and provide a false affidavit in court.
4. The group has urged the Presiding Judge, Justice Olaide Quadiri, and the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to be vigilant and thwart this alleged plot.
5. Maciver, the Bayelsa APC Deputy Governorship candidate, was previously embroiled in controversy over his purported conviction and involvement in a jailbreak.
6. The Coalition for Social Justice and Equity Initiative argues that due to the nature of Maciver’s alleged convictions, he cannot qualify as a beneficiary of the Federal Government’s amnesty for militants in the Niger-Delta region.
This is the current status surrounding the electoral tension in Bayelsa state.
