By Abiola Olawale
The Supreme Court has declared Senator Doue Diri as the authentic and duly elected Governor of Bayelsa State.
This is as the apex court affirmed the re-election of Diri, dismissing the appeal of the governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva.
A five-member panel of the Apex Court headed by Justice Lawal Garba, in a ruling on Friday affirmed the Court of Appeal decision of July 15 which deemed Sylva’s appeal as an abuse of Court process for filing two notices of appeal.
Citing a section of the 1999 Constitution, the Apex Court panel held that the APC Governorship candidate has only one right to appeal the judgment of the Tribunal and not multiple appeals. The Court therefore faulted the APC Governorship candidate who filed two notices of appeal to the Appellate Court.
In a unanimous judgment the appeal dismissed by the Supreme Court for lacking merit.
It would be recalled that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared that Diri as winner of the governorship election after polling a total of 175,196 votes to defeat his closest rival, Timipre Sylva of the APC who polled 110,108 votes.
