The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Friday, has set aside the judgement of tribunal which annulled the election of Governor Duoye Diri.
The five-man panel led by Justice Adezila Mshelia upturned the August 17, 2020 verdict of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal which had sacked Duoye Diri from office and ordered fresh poll to be conducted within 90 days.
The Court of Appeal set aside the tribunal’s verdict and affirmed Diri as authentic winner of the election.
In August, the three-man election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja had, in a split decision of two-to-one, nullified the November 16, 2019 Bayelsa State governorship election as a result of unlawful exclusion of the Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party and its candidate, King George, from the exercise.
Dissatisfied with the judgment, Diri and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, and the Independent National Electoral Commission filed separate appeals against it.
The Court of Appeal upheld the appeals on Friday by holding that ANDP was not unlawfully excluded from the election.
