A Federal High Court in Abuja disqualified former Bayelsa governor, Timipre Sylva, from contesting the election coming up on 11 November.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) says it will appeal the court judgement against its Bayelsa State governorship candidate, Timipre Sylva.

Abdullahi Ganduje, APC national chairman, disclosed this while briefing State House Correspondents on Tuesday in Abuja.

He described the judgement as unfortunate, noting, however, that it was actually democracy in action.

"Well, it's unfortunate... that judgement, but we can say that it is democracy in action.

"But, we learned that the person who took the issue to the court is not even qualified because he did not contest with Sylva.

"Therefore, he's not even qualified for him to take the issue to the court. However, we are appealing. We're waiting for the judgement and then we appeal for calm on that issue," Mr Ganduje said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a Federal High Court in Abuja disqualified former Bayelsa governor, Timipre Sylva, from contesting the election coming up on 11 November.

The judge, Donaltus Okorowo, ruled on Monday that Mr Sylva would violate the 1999 constitution by running after having taken the Oath of Office twice and ruled for five years as governor of Bayelsa.

Mr Sylva was governor of Bayelsa between 2007 and 2011 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He later served as minister of state for petroleum resources under President Muhammadu Buhari between 2019 and 2023.

Mr Ganduje, however, said the judgement would not deter the party from its arrangement for the election coming up next month.

He said, "Last two weeks, I was in Bayelsa for two good days and I think they were ready and they're still ready to win the election.

"Therefore, this is a little distraction anyway, but we will overcome it.

"We believe the appeal court will give us positive judgment but that will not stop us from making arrangements for the forthcoming election."