* Panel chairman differs in dissenting judgment
The Bayelsa State Gubernatorial Petition Tribunal has nullified the election of Governor Duoye Diri.
The election was nullified based on a petition filed by the Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party (ANDP), which argued that it was unlawfully excluded from participating in the election.
Delivering judgment on Monday, the panel led by Justice Yunusa Musa ruled that the election was unlawful due to the exclusion of ANDP and its candidate.
Justice Musa also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election in Bayelsa within 90 days.
Diri’s current travial came two days after a three-member panel of the tribunal dismissed three petitions challenging his election as governor.
The judge, S.M. Owoduni, who read the lead judgment of the tribunal, held that the petition filed by AD and its candidate, Owei Woniwei, was incompetent and lacks merit.
Justice Owoduni held that the petitioners failed to prove the allegation that Diri’s deputy, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, forged his declaration of age and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharged certificate.
The second petition filed by Ibiene Stephen and his party – UPC – and the one filed by the candidate of the Liberation Movement (LM), Vijah Opuama, were also dismissed.
Opuama had filed his petition to challenge the declaration Messrs Diri and Ewhrudjakpo as governor and deputy.
He also alleged that Ewhrudjakpo submitted forged exemption certificate and documents that contain false information to INEC. He is asking the tribunal to cancel the election and order a fresh poll.
But shortly after the majority ruling, Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Ibrahim Sirajo, delivered a dissenting judgment, upholding Diri’s election, and dismissed the ANDP petition against him.
Justice Sirajo said there was evidence that ANDP was disqualified from the election for fielding an ineligible candidate. He noted that the party nominated an underage deputy governorship candidate, who admitted that he was 34 years old, one year short of the 35 years that the Constitution stipulated.
Justice Sirajo said there was evidence that the party failed to substitute the candidate till the statutory window for the substitution lapsed. He noted that Exhibit P8 before the tribunal was a letter that INEC wrote to the party on September 21, 2019, wherein it notified ANDP that the period for substitution of candidates had expired.
According to the Justice Sirajo, what the petitioners brought before the tribunal was a pre-election case since INEC’s decision that disqualified its candidates occurred before the actual election held on November 16, 2019. He held that under section 285(9) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, the party, ought to have within 14 days after it got the notification from INEC, gone to a Federal High Court to challenge it.
He held that failure by the party to do so made its petition against governor Diri’s election statute-barred. Besides, Justice Sirajo held that section 138(1) (d) of the Electoral Act provided grounds upon which an election could be challenged at the tribunal, vis-a-vis section 285(14) of the Constitution which defined disqualification of the candidate by INEC as a pre-election matter.
He held that since the Constitution is superior to the Electoral Act, it takes preeminence. He held that the disqualification of ANDP by INEC was not unconstitutional because it nominated an underage candidate.
The Judge stressed that since the disqualified candidate did not meet the constitutional requirement, he was therefore not a valid candidate that could claim right of exclusion. He held that a political party must have a valid nomination before the issue of exclusion could arise. Consequently,
Justice Sirajo, therefore, dismissed the petition as lacking in merit, and accordingly upheld the election of Governor Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Diri, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was sworn in as governor after the Supreme Court sacked David Lyon, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, as governor-elect 24 hours before his inauguration in February.
The apex court based its rulings on the premise that Biobarakuma Degi-Eremieoyo, running mate of the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), presented forged certificates to INEC.