‘Victorious’ Appeal court affirms Diri as Bayelsa governor

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has affirmed Duoye Diri as governor of Bayelsa State.

A five-man panel of the appellate court in two unanimous judgments on Friday reversed the majority judgment of the Governorship Election Tribunal which sacked Diri. 

In a split judgment on August 17, two out of three judges had upheld the petition filed by Lucky King-George, candidate of the Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party, on grounds that the Independent National Electoral Commission was wrong to have excluded the party from the November 16, 2019 governorship election.

The tribunal ordered INEC to conduct a fresh poll in the state within 90 days.

Delivering judgment on Friday, a five-man panel of the appellate court led by Adriza Mshella, upheld Diri’s appeal.

The court held that the petition filed by the ANDP at the lower tribunal was statute-barred.

Rtn. Victor Ojelabi

Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.