The Court of Appeal in Abuja has overturned a judgement that nullified the election of Douye Diri as governor of Bayelsa State.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal had on August 17, 2020, sacked Diri from office and ordered the conduct of a fresh election within 90 days.
The tribunal held that the verdict was a result of the unlawful exclusion of the Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party (ANDP) and its candidate, King George, from the election.
Not happy with the verdict, Diri, the Peoples Democratic Party, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) appealed the ruling and ask the appeal court to overturn the tribunal’s judgement.
But in a unanimous judgment on Friday, a five-man panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Adezila Mshelia dismissed the tribunal’s verdict and affirmed Diri’s election.
The court held that the Bayelsa Election Petition Tribunal acted outside its jurisdiction by nullifying the election of Governor Diri. It said that the ANDP failed woefully to show that it had a valid candidate that was unlawfully excluded by INEC.
The court berated the tribunal for ignoring the fact that the petition of ANDP was status barred in addition to the fact that the party presented an unqualified candidate to INEC in the November 16, 2019 Governorship election in Bayelsa State.
