The Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, on Monday, May 27, upheld the election that produced Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State.
A three-man panel led by Justice Adekunle Adeleye, dismissed the petition filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate Timipre Sylva, for lacking in merit.
In its unanimous decision on Monday, the tribunal held that the petitioners failed to adduce any credible evidence to substantiate any of the allegations they raised against the outcome of the Bayelsa poll.
The tribunal struck out all the additional evidence as well as statements on oath of some of the petitioners’ witnesses for being incompetent.
The tribunal held that the petitioners failed to file their additional proof of evidence within the 21 days allowed by law.
The tribunal held that the decision by Sylva and his party to file their additional proof of evidence and statement on oath of witnesses, long after they had filed the petition, was “tantamount to a surreptitious attempt to amend the case of the petitioners”.
