BEVERLY HILLS, October 02, (THEWILL) – The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday nullified the August 17, 2020 judgment of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal which sacked Governor Duoye Diri from office and ordered a fresh poll within 90 days.
In a unanimous judgment by a five-man panel of the Court led by Justice Adezila Mshelia set aside the tribunal’s verdict and affirmed Diri’s election in its judgment. It held that the verdict of the State Election Tribunal that sacked Governor Diri was “perverse” and “contemptuous” of the law
According to the court, the tribunal wrongfully evaluated the petition the Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party, ANDP filed to challenge its alleged unlawfully exclusion from the governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The appellate court said there was enough evidence to prove that ANDP nominated underage candidates for the election, in breach of sections 177, 182 and 187 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. It held that the petition ANDP filed before the tribunal was not only statute-barred, but equally a pre-election matter that was outside the jurisdiction of the tribunal.
The court noted that whereas section 285(9) of the Constitution made it mandatory that the issue of disqualification of candidates, being a pre-election matter, must be filed within 14 days after the cause of action arose, ANDP, filed its petition at the tribunal, five months after its deputy governorship candidate was disqualified by INEC.
The appellate court held that the case of ANDP had become “stale” and “soured” before it lodged the petition on February 26.
“The case of the 1st Respondent was marooned in the ocean of statute bar. The cause of action had expired with the fusion of time. The tribunal therefore lacked the requisite jurisdiction to entertain it. The subject matter if the petition was outside the jurisdiction of the tribunal. It will smack of judicial sacrilege to allow the decision of the tribunal to stand”, the appellate court added
The three-man election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja had, in a split decision of two-to-one, nullified the November 16, 2019 Bayelsa State governorship election as a result of the unlawful exclusion of the Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party and its candidate, King George, from the exercise.
ALSO READ: Tribunal Affirms Election Of Duoye Diri As Bayelsa Governor
Dissatisfied with the judgment, Diri, his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, and the Independent National Electoral Commission had filed separate appeals against it.
