S’Court Affirms Diri’s Re-election as Bayelsa Governor 

Alex Enumah in Abuja 

The Supreme Court has affirmed the re-election of Senator Duoye Diri as Bayelsa State Governor.

A five-member panel of the Supreme Court affirmed his re-election shortly after dismissing the appeal filed by Timipre Sylva, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba, the apex court held that Sylva’s appeal was grossly incompetent and an abuse of court process.

The panel subsequently upheld the concurrent judgments of the Court of Appeal and Bayelsa Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which earlier dismissed the case for lacking in merit.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of the November 11, 2024 governorship poll after he scored a total of 175,196 votes to defeat his closest rival, Sylva of the APC who polled 110,108 votes.