The Supreme Court has upheld the re-election of Senator Douye Diri as the Governor of Bayelsa State. In a ruling delivered on Friday, the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Timipre Sylva, and his party.
The lead judgment, delivered by Justice Garba Lawal, declared that the appeal by Sylva and the APC lacked merit and constituted a gross abuse of the judicial process. The unanimous decision of the court also confirmed the previous judgments of both the Court of Appeal and the Election Petition Tribunal.
Earlier, on July 18, the Court of Appeal in Abuja had affirmed Governor Diri’s re-election in the November 11, 2023, gubernatorial election. The three-member panel, led by Justice James Abundaga, ruled that the appeal filed by Sylva and the APC was baseless. The tribunal had also previously dismissed their petition on May 27 for lack of merit.
The tribunal, chaired by Justice Adekunle Adeleye, concluded that the petitioners failed to provide credible evidence to support their claims against the election’s outcome. It further ruled that the additional evidence and witness statements presented by the petitioners were incompetent and thus struck them out.
