UPDATED: Court Of Appeal Upholds Diri’s Election As Bayelsa Governor

The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Thursday, has dismissed the appeal filed by Chief Timipre Sylva and the All Progressives Congress (APC) challenging the re-election of Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State.

The three-man panel in a unanimous decision, ruled that the appeal was incompetent and constituted an abuse of court process, thereby affirming the judgment of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.

The court said it found no reason to dislodge the earlier judgement of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which declined to nullify the outcome of the gubernatorial poll that was held in the state on November 11, 2023.

The Tribunal had in its judgment delivered on May 17, 2024, upheld the election and the return of Senator Douye Diri and his deputy, Senator Lawrence Eruwjadkpo, as lawfully elected governor and deputy respectively.

Justice James Abundaga, who read the lead judgment of the Court of Appeal, affirmed the declaration of Diri and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as the joint winners of the November 11, 2023 poll. He awarded a cost of N500,000 to be paid by APC and Sylva to the respondents in the appeal.

The appellate court held that the appellants did not produce credible evidence that the election took place in 184 polling units of Nembe, Ogbia, and Southern Ijaw.

The court also held that going by the evidence and exhibit tendered, the election was not conducted in the disputed areas by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and therefore, the issue of vote collation could not have arisen.

The tribunal also dismissed the allegation that the deputy governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, tendered forged University Degree Certificate and NYSC Exemption Certificate to INEC in aid of his qualification to contest the election.

It held that the allegation was a pre-election matter that ought to be litigated before the Federal High Court and had become statute barred since the petitioners failed to challenge the genuineness of the certificates within 14 days after it was submitted to INEC.

The tribunal further held that the issue of Ewhrudjakpo’s educational qualification was previously determined by a court of competent jurisdiction and that he was eminently qualified to contest the election.

The tribunal also noted that the petitioners’ prayers were contradictory, as they prayed for a declaration that they were the valid winners of the governorship election, while also applying for the election to be declared invalid.

The tribunal held that the petitioners were unable to discharge the burden of proof placed on them by the law, failing to show, polling unit by polling unit, the particulars of non-compliance they alleged and how it substantially affected the outcome of the election.

The tribunal also held that some of the allegations in the petition contained elements of criminality that ought to have been proved beyond reasonable doubt.

The tribunal upheld preliminary objections filed by the respondents to challenge the competence of the election.

INEC had declared that Governor Diri of the PDP garnered a total of 175,196 votes to defeat his closest rival, Sylva of the APC, who polled 110,108 votes.

However, Sylva and the APC approached the tribunal, alleging that results of the election in three Local Government Areas (LGAs) were wrongly excluded by INEC. The tribunal declined to set aside the result of the election as announced by INEC.