‘You cannot unseat God’ — Diri speaks on appeal court victory

Douye Diri, governor of Bayelsa, has expressed satisfaction with the ruling by the appeal court, which affirmed his victory in the November 16, 2019 election.

The Bayelsa election petitions tribunal had, in August, annulled the election of Diri as governor of the state, following a petition by Lucky King-George, candidate of the Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party (ANDP), who had insisted that he was excluded from the governorship poll.

The tribunal had also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh poll in the state within 90 days.

But Diri, as well as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and INEC, in three separate appeals, had approached the court of appeal seeking to upturn the tribunal’s decision.

In a ruling on Friday, the court had upheld Diri’s appeal, insisting that the petition filed by ANDP at the lower tribunal was statute-barred.

According to NAN, Daniel Alabrah, chief press secretary to the governor, in a statement, said Diri thanked God for the victory and commended the five-man panel of the court for serving justice.

“I want to thank God for this victory. Today, a Daniel came to judgement in the name of the Court of Appeal, which has given the true position of the law and we are happy about it,” the governor was quoted as saying.

“For those who are fanning the embers of disunity in our state, using portfolio political parties, this is a time to put a full stop to it.

“If they really love the state, why are they still fanning the embers of destabilisation and moving on to unseat us?

“The governor of Bayelsa State is God Himself. I have told those who care to listen that I am only a messenger-governor. The governor of Bayelsa is His Excellency, the Supreme Leader of the universe, and that is God Himself.

“He kept me here to hold brief for Him and you cannot unseat God. There is a God that rules over the affairs of men and that God that has brought me here will protect me, my deputy governor, and everybody put together to lead this government.”