Bayelsa: Tribunal Reserves Judgment In Sylva’s Petition Against Diri

Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal has reserved judgement in the case filed by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timipre Sylvia, against the declaration of Governor Douye Diri, as the governor of the state.

The chairman of the tribunal, Justice Adekunle Adeleye, yesterday in Abuja, announced that the judgement would be delivered within the 180 days statutorily allowed by law.
He said all parties in the petition would be communicated as soon as the judgement delivery date is fixed.

At yesterday‘s proceedings, the petitioners, Sylvia and APC, adopted their final written address, praying the tribunal to annul the declaration of Diri as the winner of the election.
Their lead counsel, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), told the tribunal that the Independent National Electoral

Commission, INEC, embarked on wrongful exclusion of results before arriving at the declaration of Diri as winner.

The petitioners‘ lawyer stated that the electoral body did not debunk the allegation of wrongful exclusion of results by not calling the state election result collation officer to testify.
He, therefore, urged the tribunal to objectively decide the petition on the strength of the evidence adduced by the petitioners especially because INEC did not call a single witness to challenge all the allegations.

However, Diri‘s counsel, Chris Uche (SAN), informed the tribunal that the petition by Sylvia is dead on arrival because it is grossly deficient in quantity and quality of evidence.
He said that the petition was baseless, frivolous and vexatious and grossly lacking in merit because the two petitioners did not discharge the burden placed on them by law.

Among others, Uche said that Sylva predicated his petition on alleged refusal of INEC to collate results in three local governments areas- Southern Ijaw, Nembe and Ogbia but failed to call a single collation officer to back up its claim.

Besides, Uche said that Sylvia did not tender voter register, BVAS machines and form EC8A used for the purported election in the three local governments to establish his allegations.

The senior lawyer also said that the petitioner himself, despite having a witness statement on oath, refused to give evidence before the tribunal to substantiate his allegations.

Uche pleaded with the tribunal to discountenance the evidence of a former police commissioner in the state on the ground that the police officer admitted before the tribunal that he had issues with Diri when the Prado Jeep earlier given to him was withdrawn.

Uche also urged the tribunal not to invoke the spirit of the judgement that brought Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma, into office, adding that INEC has established beyond doubt that election did not hold in the three local governments due to resistance by some hoodlums to the use of BVAS machines.