The Senator representing Bayelsa West, Seriake Dickson, said he would approach the Supreme Court to determine the issue of pre-election filing in the suit seeking to disqualify him from contesting the just-concluded Bayelsa West senatorial bye-election.

He stated this in a statement while reacting to the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division, on Thursday.

The appellate court had ruled that Dickson had a case to answer in the pre-election suit filed by Eneoriekumoh Owoupele through his lawyers, Pius Pius and Ebikebuna Aluzu, seeking to set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court in Yenagoa.

The Federal High Court in Yenagoa presided over by Justice Jane Inyang had dismissed the matter, citing the fact that it was statute-barred.

However, the three-man panel of the Appeal Court presided over by Justice U. Onyemenam faulted the Federal High Court’s decision to dismiss the case, stressing that the lower court’s decision was wrong.

The panel agreed with the appellants that the matter was filed within 14 days commencing from the publication of the particulars of the candidate by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and ordered the case to be re-assigned to another Federal High Court judge.

But Dickson, who was sworn in on December 15, 2020, following his victory in the bye-election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), vowed that he would go to the apex court to seek its interpretation of the contention on when to file on a pre-election matter.

He said, “The issue in contention is whether the date to file on pre-election matter should run from the day a candidate submits his particulars to INEC or from the day INEC publishes those particulars. (Independent)

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