A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday dismissed the 50-count corruption charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, against former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva.

The court, led by Justice Adeniyi Ademola, said the case was an abuse of court process, adding that it was frivolous and lacking in merit.

The court ruled that the same case had been dismissed on two separate occasions by two different judges, Justices Evoh Chukwu and Ahmed Mohammed on June 1 and 10 respectively.

“The charges and witnesses in this case are all the same with the cases earlier struck out by the two courts,” Justice Ademola said.

“The court has inherent power to prevent the abuse of its process,”

While dismissing the case, the court told the EFCC that the only option left for it was to appeal the ruling.

Sylva, now the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate in the December 5 governorship election in Bayelsa, was accused alongside six others of stealing state funds to the tune of N19.2 billion between 2009 and 2012 when he was governor.