Nigeria
Bayelsa Governorship Election: Appeal Court Upholds Governor Diri’s Election
The election of Bayelsa state governor Douye Diri, who ran on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party in November 2023, has been upheld by the Court of Appeal located in Abuja.
As previously reported by Obasanjonews24.com, the Labour Party and its candidate for governor, Udengmobofa Eradiri, filed a petition challenging the decision of the Bayelsa State governorship election tribunal. On Tuesday, the court deferred judgement in this case.
The appellate court ruled on Saturday that the tribunal was correct to reject the LP’s plea due to its lack of substance. The decision was made by a three-person panel.
The court declared that governor Diri and his deputy had been accused of forgeries and non-qualification by Eradiri and the LP, but they had not produced any evidence to support their claims.
It was decided that the attachment of purportedly falsified documents to form EC8, which the third respondent had filed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was a pre-election matter that wasn’t supposed to be brought before the tribunal.
However, the panel granted each of the appeal’s respondents a cost of two hundred thousand Naira against the appellant.
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