Supreme Court with the verdict upheld the earlier decisions of the Court of Appeal and the State Election Petition Tribunal
By Kehinde Okeowo
The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Governor Duoye Diri, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as governor of Bayelsa State.
The lead judgment delivered by Justice Garba Lawal held that the appeal by Timipre Sylvia and the All Progressives Congress (APC) was not only lacking merit but a gross abuse of court process.
Citing a section of the 1999 Constitution, the Supreme Court judges held that the APC Governorship candidate has only one right to appeal the judgment of the Tribunal and not multiple appeals. The Court, therefore, faulted him for filling two notices of appeal to the Appellate Court
The unanimous decision of the apex court means it upheld the earlier decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Election Petition Tribunal.
Court of Appeal in Abuja had on July 18, 2024, affirmed the decision of the Bayelsa Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had upheld Diri’s reelection on November 11, 2023.
A three-man panel of the appellate court dismissed an appeal brought before the Court by Timipre Sylva and APC seeking to set aside the decision of the Tribunal.
On May 27, 2024, the Justice Adekunle Adeleye-led tribunal had dismissed the petition filed against Governor Diri’s reelection by the APC and its candidate for lacking in merit.
The tribunal held that both Sylva and APC failed to adduce any credible evidence to substantiate any of the allegations they raised against the outcome of the governorship poll.