By Vivian Michael, Abuja
The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, Thursday, affirmed the re-election of Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State.
The judgement described the appeal brought before it by the All Progressives Congress(APC) and its candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva, as incompetent and abuse of court process.
The appellate court, had in a unanimous decision by a three-man panel of Justices lead by Justice James Abunduga, said it found no reason to dislodge the earlier judgement of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
It held that the court below was right when it declined to nullify the outcome of the gubernatorial poll that was held in the state on November 11, 2023.
The Bayelsa Governorship petition tribunal, had on May 27, led by Justice Adekunle Adeleye, dismissed as lacking in merit, the petition that was filed against governor Diri’s re-election by the APC and its candidate.
The tribunal held that the petitioners failed to adduce any credible evidence to substantiate any of the allegations they raised against the outcome of the governorship poll.
It struck out as incompetent, all the additional proof of evidence, as well as statements on oath of some of the witnesses that testified for the petitioners.
The court below maintained that the law expressly provided that an election petition must be filed no later than 21 days after the result of an election was declared.
It held that such petition must, at the time it was filed, be accompanied by written statements of all the intended witnesses.
The tribunal held that the decision of Sylva and his party to file their additional proof of evidence and statement on oath of witnesses, long after they had filed the petition, was “tantamount to a surreptitious attempt to amend the case of the petitioners.”
The tribunal noted that whereas Sylva and his party prayed it to declare that they were the valid winners of the governorship election, they equally applied for the same election to be declared invalid.
It held that prayers of the petitioners were contradictory, adding that Sylva and APC did not tender any electoral material to show that any irregularity occurred during the election.
It held that the petitioners were unable to discharge the burden of proof that was placed on them by the law, stressing that they failed to show, polling units by polling units, the particulars of the non compliance they alleged and how it substantially affected the outcome of the election.
