The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed six appeals filed against the election of Douye Diri of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) as Governor of Bayelsa State.
The appeals dismissed were filed by Alliance for Democracy (AD), Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party (ANDP), Labour Movement (LM) and Accord Party.
In a unanimous judgment, a seven man panel of the apex court led by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, affirmed Diri as the duly elected Governor of Bayelsa State.
Diri was sworn in on February 14, a day after the Supreme Court nullified the election of the governor-elect David Lyon of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and his Deputy, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremieoyo.
Lyon, who was declared winner of the governorship election, was to be sworn in as governor a day before his removal.
A five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Mary Odili had nullified the election of Lyon on the grounds that his deputy, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, presented false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in aid of his qualification for the November 16 governorship election in the state.
Consequently, the court ordered INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Lyon and Degi-Eremienyo and ordered INEC to immediately declare the party with the highest number of lawful votes and geographical spread the winner of the election.