Bayelsa Election: Gov. Duoye Diri Position Hanging As Tribunal Set For Judgement

The Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja is set to deliver judgments in the petitions before it challenging the election of Senator Diri as the duly elected Governor of Bayelsa State.

Governor Duoye Diri was sworn in on February 14, a day after the Supreme Court sacked the former governor-elect of Bayelsa State, David Lyon, and his Deputy, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremieoyo of the All Peoples Congress.

The petitions includes among others that of Vijah Opuama of the Liberation Movement versus the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and three others as well as between Ibiene Stephen of United Peoples Congress and INEC and three others while the third petition is between Owei Woniwei of Alliance for Democracy and Governor Duoye Diri and three others.

It would be recalled that this comes about a month after the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal filed by a former aspirant of the Bayelsa governorship election under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Timi Alaibe, who had challenged the candidacy of Senator Diri in the November 2019 election.

The governorship aspirant, Alaibe who had earlier lost a similar suit at the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal is claiming that he is the authentic candidate of the PDP, faced another setback as the court on Tuesday dismissed his petition on the ground that it was a pre-election matter.