Bayelsa gov’ship: Supreme Court affirms Gov Diri’s election

The Supreme Court has dismissed the six appeals challenging the election of Governor Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State and his deputy, Lawrence Ewrudjakpo, in the November 16, 2019 governorship election in the state.

A seven-member panel of justices presided by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta on Wednesday held that the appeals lacked merit.

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The dismissal followed the withdrawal of the appeals by the lawyers to Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party (ANDP), Accord Party (AP) candidate Ebizimo Diriyai; Alliance for Democracy (AD)’s Woniwei Owei-Tonge; and Liberation Movement (LM)‘s Vijay Opuama and two other candidates.

The political parties withdrew their appeals after the panel questioned whether they have the basis to appear before the apex court on grounds of exclusion considering the age of ANDP’s candidate, who was below the constitutionally prescribed 35 years when he contracted the election.

The political parties had also appealed against the Court of Appeal’s dismissal of their appeal which alleged falsification of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Exemption Certificate of the deputy governor, Ewhrudjakpo.