Governor Douye Diri’s election victory was upheld by the Bayelsa governorship election petition panel, which met in Abuja on Monday.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) and Timipre Sylva, the party’s candidate for governor, filed the petition, but it was denied by the three-member tribunal, which was presided over by Justice Adekunle Adeleye, for lack of merit.
The panel ruled unanimously that the petitioners had not produced any reliable evidence to support their claims that the results of the state’s gubernatorial election were unjust.
All further evidence was rejected, and some of the witnesses who provided testimony on behalf of the petitioners were found to be incompetent, according to their sworn testimonies.
The tribunal claimed that the statute clearly stipulated that an election petition had to be submitted no later than 21 days following the announcement of the election results.
It was decided that when filing such a petition, written declarations from each of the planned witnesses had to be included.
The tribunal ruled that Mr. Sylva and his party’s choice to submit their supplementary evidence and testimony of witnesses under oath so late after filing the petition amounted to a “sly attempt to amend the petitioners’ case.”
Furthermore, the tribunal rejected the claim that Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, the deputy governor, falsified his NYSC exemption certificate and university degree certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in order to be eligible to run for office.
The Federal High Court should hear the case as it relates to the pre-election, according to the ruling. It further stated that the petitioners’ failure to contest the authenticity of the certificates within 14 days of their submission to INEC had rendered the case statute barred.
Furthermore, it declared that Mr. Ewhrudjakpo’s educational qualifications had already been established by a court of competent authority.
The tribunal stated that it was satisfied that Mr. Ewhrudjakpo, the third respondent, was extremely qualified to run for office after taking judicial notice of his status as a practicing lawyer.
The tribunal further pointed out that although though Mr. Sylva and his party asked the panel to recognize them as the legitimate winners of the gubernatorial contest, they also submitted an application to have the same election ruled void.
The petitioners’ pleas were deemed inconsistent by the court, which also noted that Mr. Sylva and the APC had not submitted any electoral evidence to support any claims of irregularities during the poll.
It ruled that the petitioners were unable to meet the legal burden of proof, emphasizing that they had not provided polling stations with the specifics of the claimed non-compliance or evidence of how it materially impacted the election’s result.
(NAN)
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