A member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Delta State, Chief Dr. Dennis Otuaro, has called for the replacement of the legal team of the Bayelsa State's APC governorship candidate, Timipre Sylva, and his running mate, Joshua Maciver, in response to a recent judgement delivered by a federal high court in Abuja that disqualified the party's candidate in Bayelsa from contesting in the November 11 election.

Dr. Otuaro, who earned a PhD in Comparative Politics and Development Studies, picked holes in the judgement delivered by the presiding judge of the Federal High Court, Donatus Okorowo, basing his argument on the fact that, "As soon as an earlier election is declared null and void or canceled and a rerun is ordered, that 'FIRST OATH OF OFFICE' is thereby invalidated."

Recall that the Bayelsa APC governorship candidate was disqualified by the federal high court which held that, having been sworn in twice and ruled for five years as governor of the state, he (Sylva) would breach the 1999 Constitution if allowed to contest again, and as such Sylva was not qualified to run in the forthcoming poll because if he wins and is sworn in, he would spend more than eight years in office as governor of the state.

But according to Dr. Otuaro while stating his position on the legal issue, said that, "Whenever a constitutional amendment takes place, the said law (amendment) takes care of those actions thereafter and doesn’t apply in retrospects or rather retroactively."

"At the first instance, the moment a competent court of law calls for rerun of a governorship election... the previous or earlier 'OATH OF OFFICE' has been invalidated before the constitution and laws of the land. So, the earlier (first) Oath of Office doesn’t counts anymore.

"Therefore, if, at all, there was, any so-called second Oath of Office that Mr. Timpre Sylva took after his rerun in Bayelsa State as a governor, that action has no business with an amendment that...took effect after Mr. Timipre Sylva's time as a governor of Bayelsa state that has elapsed before that amendment," he buttressed.

Speaking further Dr. Otuaro asked, "Again, does the amended section says, a governor cannot take Oath of Office for the seat of governor of a state for more than two times under his tenure? What if a rerun for an election occurs three or more times under one particular tenure of office due to similar legal issues that arises from elections litigations???"

Continuing, Dr. Otuaro, while pointing out the difference between a tenure and an oath of office, stated further that, "There is a difference between Tenure and Oath of Office. Someone can take an Oath of Office ten times under one Tenure of Four Years, depending on the outcomes of electoral litigations and Tribunal's decisions that cancelled and ordered rerun of the particular election.

"You cannot use an Oath of Office to substitute a Tenure (Four Years) by the law. The two terms; an Oath of Office and Tenure (term of office) are not conjunctive in law and nature.

"The Sylva/Maciver Team should dismiss all their team of lawyers and bring capable lawyers onboard to liberate Bayelsa State," he posited.

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