The Bayelsa governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja on Monday affirmed the election victory of Governor Douye Diri.
The three-member tribunal, led by Justice Adekunle Adeleye-led, dismissed the petition by All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Timipre Sylva, as lacking in merit.
In a unanimous decision, the tribunal held that the petitioners failed to adduce credible evidence to substantiate their allegations against the outcome of the state’s governorship poll.
It struck out all the additional proof of evidence and statements on oath of some of the witnesses who testified for the petitioners as incompetent.
According to the tribunal, the law expressly provided that an election petition must be filed no later than 21 days after the election result was declared.
It held that such a petition must be accompanied by written statements of all the intended witnesses when it was filed.
The tribunal held that the decision of Mr Sylva and his party to file their additional proof of evidence and statement on oath of witnesses long after they had filed the petition was “tantamount to a surreptitious attempt to amend the case of the petitioners.”
More so, the tribunal dismissed the allegation that the deputy governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, tendered a forged university degree certificate and NYSC exemption certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in aid of his qualification to contest the election.
It held that the allegation was a pre-election matter that ought to be litigated before the Federal High Court, adding that the matter had become statute-barred since the petitioners failed to challenge the genuineness of the certificates 14 days after they were submitted to INEC.
Besides, it held that a court of competent jurisdiction had previously determined Mr Ewhrudjakpo’s educational qualification.
The tribunal said it took judicial notice that the third respondent, Mr Ewhrudjakpo, is a legal practitioner and was satisfied that he was eminently qualified to contest the election.
The tribunal equally noted that though Mr Sylva and his party prayed the panel to declare that they were the valid winners of the governorship election, it said they also applied for the same election to be declared invalid.
It held that the petitioners’ prayers were contradictory, adding that Mr Sylva and APC did not tender any electoral material to show that any irregularity occurred during the election.
It held that the petitioners could not discharge the burden of proof placed on them by the law, stressing that they failed to show polling units by polling units the particulars of the non-compliance they alleged and how it substantially affected the outcome of the election.
(NAN)
