• Says Sylva’s appeal needless distraction
The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal, yesterday, affirmed the re-election of Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State, and his deputy, Lawrence Oborwahariewo.
The three-member panel of the appellate court, led by Justice James Abundaga, in a unanimous judgement, held that the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal was right in dismissing the appeals by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Timipre Sylva, challenging Diri and Oborwahariewo’s election.
The appellate court held that Sylva and his party failed in their duty to call necessary witnesses to prove their case, and that the appellants did not bring a Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine nor did they bring extracts to prove their allegations.
The appellate court awarded N500, 000 as cost in favour of the respondents. The court said that it found no reason to dislodge the earlier judgment of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which declined to nullify the outcome of the gubernatorial poll that was held in the state on November 11, 2023.
The appeal was brought before it by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Timipre Sylva. It will be recalled that the Justice Adekunle Adeleye-led three-member tribunal had, on May 27, dismissed, as lacking in merit, the petition filed against Diri’s re-election by the APC and its candidate.
The tribunal held that the petitioners failed to provide 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.
According to the tribunal, the law expressly provided that an election petition must be filed not later than 21 days after the result of an election was declared.
It held that such a petition must, at the time it was filed, be accompanied with 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.”
More so, the tribunal dismissed the allegation that the Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, tendered forged University Degree Certificate and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Exemption Certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in aid of his qualification to contest the election.
It held that the allegation was a pre-election matter that ought to be litigated before the Federal High Court, adding that the matter had become statute barred since the petitioners failed to challenge the genuineness of the certificates 14 days after it was submitted to INEC.
MEANWHILE, Diri has described the appeal filed by Sylva as a needless distraction. In his reaction shortly after the Appeal Court dismissed Sylva’s application, as well as that of his party, APC, for lacking in merit, the governor said that the case was not only a distraction for him but for the entire state.
A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah, quoted the governor as saying that he was not surprised about the outcome of the case given the character of the APC candidate.
