Supreme Court Assigns PDP Candidate Duoye, Governor of Bayelsa State.

The Supreme Court has declared that the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Bayelsa governorship election, Diri Duoye, would become the next Governor of Bayelsa State.

The Supreme Court has nullified the election victory of Bayelsa Governor-elect, David Lyon, and that of his Deputy, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremieoyo.
Lyon was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election. His victory also meant the first time a candidate of the APC would be winning a governorship election in Bayelsa.

Lyon’s election victory was nullified because his running mate, Degi-Eremienyo, presented a forged certificate to the electoral commission.

The Supreme Court upheld the November 12, 2019 judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja which had disqualified Degi-Eremienyo in the election for submitting forged certificates to INEC.

The court ruled that Degi-Eremienyo’s disqualification had infected the joint ticket with which he and the governorship candidate, Lyon, won the election.

In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Ejembi Ekwo, the court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Lyon who was declared winner of the November 16, 2019 election.

The apex court also ordered a fresh certificate be issued to the governorship candidate with the highest votes cast and wide geographical spread in the governorship election.

This essentially means that the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election, Diri Duoye, would become the next Governor of Bayelsa.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.