The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in the disputed November 11, 2023, Bayelsa governorship election between Governor Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Chief Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
At the hearing of the case on Monday, August 19, Governor Diri asked the apex court to dismiss Sylva's appeal brought before it, saying it lacked merit.
The counsel to Governor Diri, Chief Chris Uche, (SAN), maintained that Sylva’s appeal was nothing to consider as there was no witness or documents to support his petition, stressing that the appeal was devoid of merit and therefore it should be dismissed in its entirety.
On his part, counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Charles Edoshomwan, and that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), supported the call for the dismissal of the appeal for lacking in merit.
However, Sylva, through his lawyer Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), asked the apex court to set aside the judgments of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition and that of the Court of Appeal which had earlier dismissed his petition.
Sylva also asked the court to invalidate the declaration of Diri by INEC as the winner of the governorship election and declare him as the lawful winner.
The five-man panel of the apex court headed by Justice Garba Lawal after listening to the arguments from the lawyers involved reserved judgment until a date that would be communicated to all the parties.
Recall that last month, the Court of Appeal Abuja 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 the 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.
He argued that Diri did not secure the highest number of valid votes cast at the election and insisted that the election was invalid because of noncompliance with provisions of the Electoral Act as amended.
