Bayelsa: Governor Diri files appeal challenging sack by tribunal
- Duoye Diri is leaving no stone unturned as he seeks to upturn the verdict sacking him
- The governor has filed an appeal against his removal as Bayelsa state governor
- Diri was handed a removal notice after the panel found merit in the petition of the ANDP
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The fresh row over the Bayelsa election is taking a new turn as Duoye Diri has filed an appeal against the controversial verdict of the election tribunal which sacked him as governor of the state.
Legit.ng recalls that the election of the governor was nullified by the Bayelsa governorship election petitions tribunal on Monday, August 17, alongside his deputy.
The judgement was delivered by a three-man panel presided by Justice Ibrahim Sirajo following a petition filed against the governor and his party by the Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party (ANDP).
The panel nullified the process on the grounds that the ANDP was unlawfully excluded from participating in the November 16, 2019 governorship election having been duly registered.
Source: UGC
The tribunal said it found merit in the petition and consequently nullified the election and also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a bye-election in the state within 90 days.
In a reaction, Governor Diri on Tuesday, August 18, said he has filed a notice of appeal containing 11 grounds.
Speaking through his counsel Chris Uche, the embattled governor said the tribunal erred in law when it held that ANDP’s petition was not statute-barred.
Governor Diri wants the appeal court to jettison the majority decision of the tribunal appealed against and to dismiss the 1st respondent’s petition.
The governor also wants the court to sustain the minority judgment of the chairman of the Justice Muhammed I. Sirajo, chairman of the tribunal which dismissed the petition.
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that Dino Melaye reacted to his defeat at the court of appeal with the former lawmaker submitting that "God always does right."
The former lawmaker's last hope of reclaiming his mandate as Kogi West senator hit a fatal setback as the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal challenging Senator Smart Adeyemi’s victory in the Kogi bye-election.
Melaye, who addressed pressmen after the ruling, said he has accepted the defeat as the will of God.
Bayelsa: INEC presents PDP’s Douye Diri certificate of return | Legit TV
Source: Legit.ng
