The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed Sen. Douye Diri’s re-election as governor of Bayelsa.
The Supreme Court denied the appeal filed by Timipre Sylvia, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and his party.
The lead judgement, delivered by Justice Garba Lawal, ruled that Sylvia and APC’s appeal was not only without merit but also a blatant abuse of the legal process.
The unanimous decision of the Supreme Court confirmed the earlier decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Election Petition Tribunal.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja had, on July 18, affirmed the re-election victory of Gov. Diri of Bayelsa in the Nov. 11, 2023, governorship poll.
The three-member panel of justices, chaired by Justice James Abundaga, unanimously ruled that the appellants’ appeals, Mr. Timipre Sylva and the All Progressives Congress (APC), lacked merit.
The panel determined that the tribunal did not mistake when it struck numerous portions of the petitioner’s response to the governor’s election.
Chronicle NG reports that on May 27, the election tribunal dismissed the petition submitted by Sylva and the APC.
The three-member tribunal, led by Justice Adekunle Adeleye, dismissed the petition because it lacked merit.
In a unanimous verdict, the tribunal determined that the petitioners failed to present convincing evidence to back up their claims about the outcome of the state’s governorship election.
It declared all new evidence and remarks under oath made by some of the witnesses who testified for the petitioners incompetent.
According to the tribunal, the law requires that an election petition be filed no later than 21 days after the election results are declared.
