The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal on Saturday dismissed the appeals brought before it by the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the November 11 gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State, Udengmobofa Eradiri, and that of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) and its governorship candidate, Micah Akeems, seeking to unseat Douye Diri as the governor of the state.
The Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which sat in Abuja, had on May 27, 2024 dismissed their petitions seeking the disqualification of Governor Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Eradiri, who joined Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC), had insisted that he was the only eligible candidate who scored the valid votes cast and deserved to be declared as the duly elected governor of the state.
Delivering the unanimous judgement of the three-member panel of Justices of the appellate court in the appeal by LP and its governorship candidate, Justice Bello Mohammed held that the tribunal was right in dismissing the LP’s petition for lacking merit.
The court held that Eradiri and his party failed to prove allegations of non-qualification and certificate forgery against Governor Diri and his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, as contained in their petition.
The court also held that the tribunal was right when it held that the appellant’s petition was abandoned, having not been signed by either the petitioners or their counsel, as required by law.
The court noted that the attachment of alleged forged documents to the form submitted to INEC by the 3rd respondent is a pre-election matter that should not have been brought before the tribunal.
The panel consequently awarded a cost of N200,000 against the appellant in favour of each of the respondents in the appeal.
In the same vein, the appellate court also dismissed an appeal brought before it by the NNPP governorship candidate, challenging Governor Douye Diri’s emergence as governor of Bayelsa State.
Like the appeal by the Labour Party, the court also dismissed that of the NNPP and its candidate for lacking merit, having resolved all the issues raised for the determination of the court against the appellant.
On the issue of forgery against Ewhrudjakpo, the court held that, apart from being a pre-election matter, the appellants failed to prove the allegation.
Justice P.A. Basil, who delivered the unanimous judgement of the court in the appeal by NNPP and its governorship candidate, held that the appeal was devoid of merit and accordingly dismissed and further imposed a fine of N200,000 to be paid to each of the respondents in the matter.
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