Supreme court affirms Diri as Bayelsa governor

The supreme court has dismissed appeals challenging the emergence of Douye Diri as governor of Bayelsa state.

At its sitting on Wednesday, a seven-man panel of the apex court ruled that six appeals against Douye’s emergence were dismissed after they were withdrawn by the respective counsel.

The court subsequently affirmed Douye as the duly elected governor of the state.

The appeals were filed by the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party (ANDP), Labour Movement (LM) and Accord Party.

The applicants also challenged the emergence of Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo as the deputy governor.

The ANDP had argued that they were illegally excluded from participating in the November 16, 2019 governorship election.

But in a unanimous judgment delivered by Sylvester Ngwuta, the supreme court panel affirmed the election of the governor and his deputy after ruling that the appeals had been withdrawn by the parties.

Douye and Ewhrudjakpo were declared governor and deputy governor respectively, after David Lyon of the All Progressives Congress was sacked as the governor-elect.

The supreme court had annulled Lyon’s victory following the disqualification of Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, his running mate.

Before Wednesday’s judgment, the apex court had dismissed an earlier application filed by Ndutimi Alaibe who contested the PDP governorship ticket with Diri.