August 23, (THEWILL) – The Supreme Court has upheld the election victory of Douye Diri, as the validly elected governor of Bayelsa State.
A five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Garba Lawal, in its judgement on Friday, dismissed the appeal brought before it by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timipre Sylva and his party, for lacking merit a gross abuse of court process.
It upheld the concurrent decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Election Petition Tribunal, which earlier affirmed Diri as duly elected governor of Bayelsa State.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on July 18, in a unanimous judgement affirmed the decision of the Bayelsa Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which upheld the November 11, 2023, re-election of Governor Diri.
A 3-man panel of the appellate court had in the judgement dismissed an appeal brought before the Court by Sylva and APC, seeking to set aside the decision of the Tribunal.
The Justice Adekunle Adeleye-led three-member tribunal had on May 27, dismissed the petition filed against Governor Diri’s re-election 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.
