The Supreme Court has affirmed the re-election of Senator Duoye Diri as the Governor of Bayelsa State, dismissing the appeal brought forward by Timipre Sylva, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the November 11, 2023, off-cycle election.
On Friday, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Lawal Garba, upheld the earlier decision of the Court of Appeal from July 15, which deemed Sylva’s appeal an abuse of court process for filing two notices of appeal.
The panel, citing a section of the 1999 Constitution, ruled that the APC Governorship candidate had only one right to appeal the judgment of the Tribunal and not multiple appeals.
Consequently, the Court faulted Sylva’s action of filing two notices of appeal to the Appellate Court.
In a unanimous judgment, the Supreme Court dismissed Sylva’s appeal for lacking merit.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had previously declared Governor Duoye Diri of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) the winner of the election, with a total of 175,196 votes, defeating his closest rival, Timipre Sylva of the APC, who polled 110,108 votes.