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The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Friday, August 23,, upheld the re-election of Senator Douye Diri as the governor of Bayelsa State after it dismissed the appeal filed by Chief Timipre Marlyn Sylva, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 11, 2023 off-cylce governorship election.
Justice Garba Lawal who led the five-member panel of justices upheld the July 18, 2024 decision of the Court of Appeal which asserted that Sylva’s appeal was an abuse of court process, especially for filing two notices of appeal.
In the unanimous judgment, the apex court said the appeal of Sylva and the APC was incompetent and lacking in merit and therefore cannot stand.
It would be recall that the Court of Appeal in Abuja had dismissed the appeal challenging the judgment of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice James Abundaga affirmed the declaration of Diri by INEC as the winner of the poll and
awarded a cost of N500,000 to be paid by APC and Sylva to the respondents in the appeal.
The Appellate court agreed with the May 27, 2024 judgment of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which declined to nullify the election.
Sylva, in his appeal insisted that results of the election in three Local Government Areas which he described as his strongholds, were wrongly excluded by INEC and claimed that if not for that, he would have won the election.
The former governor argued that Diri did not secure the highest number of valid votes cast at the election and insisted that the election was invalid by reason of noncompliance with provisions of the Electoral Act as amended.
Sylva also argued that Diri and his deputy, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo were not qualified at the time the election was held and have approached the apex court to invalidate the outcome of the governorship poll, having being dissatisfied with the decision of the Appeal Court.
Following the judgement of the Supreme Court, the desire by Sylva to return to the Creek Haven as the Bayelsa State Government House has been buried.
Diri now has the opportunity to concentrate fully on governance, having crossed all legal hurdles.
