Bayelsa guber dispute: Sylva to call 224 witnesses at tribunal | APC, INEC tender conflicting poll results

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate in the Bayelsa election, Timipre Silva, say they will call  224 witnesses to prove their case against Douye Diri, the state governor, at the tribunal.

On November 13, 2023, Diri, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was declared the winner of the off-cycle election held in Bayelsa after he scored 175,196 votes to defeat the APC candidate.

Sylva, a former minister of state for petroleum resources, polled 110,108 votes.

Diri was reelected for his second term in office.

Sylva and his party have since filed a petition before the tribunal disputing the outcome of the poll.

They are alleging that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) wrongly excluded election results from three LGAs –Southern Ijaw, Ogbia and Nembe.

Sylva submitted that contrary to INEC’s position that the election did not hold in the affected LGAs, APC agents supervised the poll and sent results from the various polling units to the collation centre.

He described the three LGAs as his strongholds, adding that if the results from there were added, he would have won the election.

He further alleged that the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) machines, were bypassed in some polling units.

The petitioners said the 224 witnesses they intend to call are from the disputed polling units within the three LGAs.

APC, INEC TENDER CONFLICTING POLL RESULTS

At the tribunal session on Wednesday, the APC and INEC tendered conflicting election results.

While the INEC adduced certified true copies of its results, the APC, through its agents, tendered copies of results said to have been issued to them at the various polling units after the election.

Despite opposition from the respondents, the tribunal admitted the different results in evidence.

Earlier, Odungele Moses, an APC polling agent, mounted the witness box and adopted a statement he made on oath on December 1, 2023.

Led in evidence by Tunde Falola, counsel to the petitioners, the witness, insisted that the election took place in the disputed polling units.

He tendered a result which he claimed was issued to him by the presiding officer on the election day.

However, while being cross-examined by Chris Uche, Diri’s lawyer, the witness admitted that though 16 political parties participated in the election, he was the only party agent who signed the result he tendered.

He did not give reasons why the other agents did not sign the result sheet.

Another witness, Mallory Afin, who also testified for the petitioners, tendered results which had the same serial number as the one that was produced by INEC, but with different results recorded for the political parties.

While Diri’s counsel was cross-examining the witness, it was revealed that one presiding officer signed the results tendered by the APC.

The tribunal adjourned further hearing in the matter till Thursday.