A seven-man panel of the Supreme Court on Wednesday affirmed Douye Diri as the duly elected governor of Bayelsa State. In a unanimous judgement by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, the apex court dismissed the six appeals filed against the governor and his deputy, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo.
Justice Ngwuta, in his judgement, predicated the dismissal of the appeals on the withdrawal of the six appeals by lawyers of the appellants.The appeals dismissed were filed by the Alliance for Democracy, Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party and Labour Movement.
It will be recalled that the Court of Appeal in Abuja had in a judgement it delivered on October 2, upturned the verdict of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Tribunal that nullified Diri’s election.
The appellate court had in a unanimous decision by a five-man panel of Justices, voided the majority judgement the tribunal delivered on August 17, which ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct a fresh election in the state within 90 days.The tribunal had based its decision on the ground that INEC unlawfully excluded one of the registered political parties, ANDP, from the governorship election that held in the state on November 16, 2019.
While two members of the tribunal panel, Justices Sikiru Owodunni and Yunusa Musa, upheld ANDP’s petition, Chairman of the panel, Justice Ibrahim Sirajo gave a dissenting judgement that upheld Diri’s election. Dismissing the petition for being statute-barred, Justice Sirajo said there was evidence that ANDP was disqualified from the election for fielding an ineligible candidate.He noted that the party nominated an underaged deputy governorship candidate, who admitted that he was 34 years old, instead of the 35 years age bracket the Constitution stipulated.
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