The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday overturned the August 17, 2020 judgement of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal which had sacked Governor Duoye Diri from office and ordered fresh poll to be conducted within 90 days.
The tribuna’sl verdict was set as side by A 5-man panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Adezila Mshelia
Recalled that the 3-man election petition sitting in Abuja, in a split decision of two-to-one, nullified the November 16, 2019 Bayelsa State governorship election on the ground of unlawful exclusion of candidate of the Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party, King George, from taking part in the election.
Governor Diri, and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, and the Independent National Electoral Commission then filed separate appeals against the judgement of the tribunal.
The Court of Appeal upheld the appeals on Friday saying that ANDP and its candidate were not unlawfully excluded from the exercise.
