Appeal Court affirms Diri’s re-election victory as Bayelsa governor

The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Thursday, affirmed the re-election victory of Gov. Douye Diri of Bayelsa in the Nov. 11, 2023 governorship poll.

The three-member panel of justices led by Justice James Abundaga, in a unanimous judgment, held that the appeal filed by the appellants; Mr Timipre Sylva and the All Progressives Congress (APC), lacked merit.

The panel held that the tribunal was not in error when it struck several paragraphs of the petitioner’s reply against the governor’s election.

Abundaga said the Bayelsa Governorship Election Tribunal, which sat in Abuja, was right to have struck out the appellants’ witnesses statements on oath.

The judge said it was an abuse of court process for a party to file several processes against same judgement.

The judge added that it had not been shown that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines were tendered by the appellants before the tribunal, as evidence to prove the allegations of electoral malpractice.

“The evidence of the appellants’ witnesses are hearsay and cannot be relied upon by any reasonable tribunal,” the appellate court said.

The panel subsequently dismissed the appeal for being unmeritorious.

The court, which affirmed Diri’s election, awarded cost of N500, 000 against Sylvia and APC.

It was reported that the election tribunal had, on May 27, dismissed the petition filed by Sylva and APC.

The three-member tribunal, led by Justice Adekunle Adeleye-led, dismissed the petition for lacking in merit.

In a unanimous decision, the tribunal held that the petitioners failed to adduce credible evidence to substantiate their allegations against the outcome of the state’s governorship poll.

It struck out all the additional proof of evidence and statements on oath of some of the witnesses who testified for the petitioners as incompetent.

According to the tribunal, the law expressly provided that an election petition must be filed no later than 21 days after the election result was declared.