Duoye Diri has filed an appeal
challenging the decision of the Bayelsa state governorship election petition
tribunal which sacked him from office as governor of the state.
In a split judgment on Monday,
two out of three judges had upheld the petition filed by Lucky King-George,
candidate of the Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party (ANDP), on grounds that the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was wrong to have excluded the
party from the November 16, 2019 governorship election.
The tribunal ordered INEC to
conduct a fresh poll in the state within 90 days.
However, Ibrahim Sirajo, chairman
of the tribunal, in his dissenting judgment, dismissed ANDP’s petition.
Diri, through his counsel, Chris
Uche, on Tuesday, filed a notice of appeal containing 11 grounds.
The appellant submitted that the
tribunal erred in law when it held that ANDP’s petition was not statute-barred.
According to him, the petitioners
ought to have filed their petition within 21 days from when the cause of action
arose on November 16, 2019, being the election day from which they claimed to
have been excluded. Rather, the petition was filed more than five months after.
On the second ground of appeal,
Diri claimed that “the tribunal erred in law when it held that the first
respondent’s (ANDP) candidates were validly nominated.”
He stated that the ANDP had
informed INEC of its candidates through a letter which is insufficient and does
not amount to a valid nomination.
He also accused the party of not
conducting a proper primary election as the date and mode of the election was
not stated in compliance with the electoral act.
On the third ground, Diri noted
that the tribunal erred when it held that INEC had unlawfully excluded the
candidate of the ANDP.
Rather, Diri said INEC had in a
letter dated September 13, 2019, only informed the party that the nomination of
David Esinkuma was invalid for being below the constitutionally required age of
35.
He said knowing that the
nomination of candidates closed on September 9, 2019, the party still went
ahead to forward the name of Inowei Janet as a substitute for Esinkuma on
September 23, 2019.
Another ground of appeal was that
the tribunal erred in law when it held in its majority judgment that ANDP had
the locus standi to file and maintain its petition.
He added that it is erroneous for
the tribunal to have held in the majority judgment that ANDP’s case is not a
pre-election matter, noting that by virtue of section 285(14)(c) of the
constitution, the allegation of disqualification from an election is a ground
for pre-election and not post-election matter.
Diri argued that the evidence
laid out by the first and second prosecution witnesses did not support the
petitioner’s claim of unlawful exclusion, and that the tribunal merely
speculated on facts that the party had failed to prove.
The appellant urged the court to
“set aside the entire majority decision of the tribunal (per Hon. Justice Yunsa
Musa and Hon. Justice S.M. Owodunni) appealed against and to dismiss the 1st
respondent’s petition.”
He also urged the court to
“uphold the minority judgment of the chairman of the Bayelsa state governorship
election petition tribunal, Hon. Justice Muhammed I. Sirajo which clearly
appreciated the law and correctly applied the same to the facts, and rightly
dismissed the petition.”
Diri, candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), was sworn in as governor after the supreme court sacked
David Lyon as governor-elect 24 hours before his inauguration.
The apex court based its ruling
on the premise that Biobarakuma Degi-Eremieoyo, running mate of the candidate
of the All Progressives Congress (APC), presented forged certificates to INEC.
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