Sylva, Diri Know Fate as Tribunal Reserves Judgment in Bayelsa Guber Poll 

Alex Enumah in Abuja 

The Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, on Monday, reserved its judgment in the petition filed by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timipre Sylvia, challenging the re-election of Douye Diri as Governor of Bayelsa State.

The Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Adekunle Adeleye, made the announcement shortly after parties adopted and argued their written addresses in the suit.

He assured the parties that the panel’s verdict would be delivered within the 180 days statutorily allowed by law, adding that the judgment date would be communicated as soon as it is fixed.

At Monday’s proceedings, the petitioners prayed the tribunal to annul the declaration of Diri as the winner of the November 11, 2023 election.

Their lead counsel, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), told the tribunal that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) embarked on wrongful exclusion of results before arriving at the declaration of Diri as winner.

Ikpeazu further stated that the electoral body did not debunk the allegation of wrongful exclusion of results by not calling the state election result collation officer to testify.

He therefore urged the tribunal to objectively decide the petition on the strength of the evidence adduced by the petitioners especially because INEC did not call a single witness to challenge all the allegations.

However, Diri’s counsel, Chris Uche (SAN), informed the tribunal that the petition by Sylva died on arrival because it is grossly deficient in quantity and quality of evidence. 

He said that the petition was baseless, frivolous and vexatious and grossly lacking in merit because the two petitioners did not discharge the burden placed on them by law.

Among others, Uche said that Sylva predicated his petition on alleged refusal of INEC to collate results in three local governments areas — Southern Ijaw, Nembe and Ogbia — but failed to call a single collation officer to back up its claim.

Besides, Uche said that Sylva did not tender the voter register, BVAS machines and form EC8A used for the purported election in the three local governments to establish his allegations.

The senior lawyer also said that the petitioner himself, despite having a witness statement on oath, refused to give evidence before the tribunal to substantiate his allegations.

Uche pleaded with the tribunal to discountenance the evidence of a former police commissioner in the state on the ground that the police officer admitted before the tribunal that he had issues with Diri when the Prado Jeep earlier given to him was withdrawn.

Uche also urged the tribunal not to invoke the spirit of the judgment that brought Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, into office, adding that INEC has established beyond doubt that election did not hold in the three local governments due to resistance by some hoodlums to the use of BVAS machines.

Similarly, INEC, represented by Charles Edosomwan (SAN), and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), represented by Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), canvassed for the dismissal of the petition on the ground that the petitioners failed and neglected to discharge the burden of establishing their allegations against the election beyond reasonable doubt as required by law.

INEC had declared Diri of the PDP winner of the November 11, 2023 governorship election in Bayelsa State, having won majority of the votes cast at the election.

According to the Returning Officer, Prof. Faruq Kuta, the PDP and Diri polled 175,196 votes to defeat his closest rival, Timipre Sylva of the APC, who scored 110,108 votes. 

Dissatisfied, Sylva and APC had approached the tribunal to challenge the declaration of Diri as winner of the poll.

The petitioners are asking the tribunal to hold that contrary to the position of the electoral umpire, election held in some polling units and winners declared at the said units, adding that it was wrong of INEC to disregard the results at the ward and local government level.

It is their claim that if the said cancelled results were restored by the court, they would emerge winner of the November election.

But the respondents, especially INEC, which conducted the election, submitted that election in three local governments of Southern Ijaw, Ogbia and Nembe did not hold due to incidents of alleged diversions of materials and disruption of the electoral process over alleged bypass of the BVAS machine.

They had tendered the Form EC40G to confirm that there were no elections in the said polling units.

In addition, the respondents brought Certified True Copies (CTCs) of results from INEC to prove that the results brought before the court as evidence that election held at the polling units were forged by the petitioners.