In Abuja, the Court of Appeal dismissed a case brought by former Petroleum Resources Minister, Timipre Sylva, against Douye Diri’s election as the governor of Bayelsa State.
The decision was made on Thursday by a three-judge panel led by Justice James Abundaga. Timipre Sylva and the All Progressives Congress (APC) had filed the appeal after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Duoye Diri the winner of the Bayelsa governorship election.
Sylva’s Complaint
Newslodge had reported that Diri, who is also the current governor, received 175,196 votes, defeating APC candidate Sylva, who got 110,108 votes. Diri won by a margin of 65,088 votes.
But Sylva challenged the outcome, claiming there were issues with the election process and that the electoral laws were not followed. However, a three-judge tribunal led by Adekunle Adeleye dismissed Sylva’s complaint, calling it inconsistent and lacking evidence.
The tribunal also noted that Sylva did not properly file witness statements as required by law. Dissatisfied, both parties took the case to the appeal court.
At the appeal court, Diri’s lawyers argued that the tribunal was correct in dismissing Sylva’s case for not presenting competent witnesses. They pointed out that Sylva failed to prove election misconduct in 184 polling units in three Local Government Areas.
On the other hand, Sylva’s lawyers insisted that the appeal court should consider their evidence and overturn the tribunal’s decision. They argued that elections took place in the disputed polling units, contrary to the respondents’ claims.
What the Appeal Court Said
The appeal court upheld the tribunal’s decision to dismiss parts of Sylva’s complaint against the governor’s election. Justice Abundaga stated that the tribunal was right to reject the statements from Sylva’s witnesses.
The judge mentioned that it’s wrong to submit multiple documents for the same judgment and noted that Sylva did not provide evidence from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to support his claims of election misconduct.
“The testimonies from Sylva’s witnesses were based on hearsay and cannot be trusted by any reasonable tribunal,” the court explained, concluding that the appeal had no merit and dismissing it accordingly.
The court confirmed Diri’s election and imposed a cost of N500,000 each against the APC and Sylva. Because of this ruling, Diri remains governor unless there is a final decision from the Supreme Court, should the losing party decide to appeal further.