Gov Diri lodges 12 grounds of appeal against Tribunal Sack

 

Governor Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State has lodged 12 grounds of appeal before the Court of Appeal in Abuja to challenge the tribunal judgement that sacked him from office Monday  and ordered the conduct of a fresh election in the state within 90 days.

In the Notice of Appeal he filed through his team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche, SAN, on Tuesday, governor Diri, urged the appellate court to set aside the majority judgement of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal which nullified his election and uphold the Minority verdict, Vanguard writes.

The tribunal had in a majority judgement by two out of the three-man panel of Justices, voided the outcome of the gubernatorial election that held in the state on November 16, 2019, over the exclusion of one of the registered political parties, Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party, ANDP, in the contest.

Justice Yunusa Musa, who read the lead judgement in the matter, upheld the petition, saying the tribunal was satisfied that INEC illegally excluded ANDP and its governorship candidate, King George, from the election.

However, in a dissenting judgement, Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Ibrahim Sirajo, affirmed governor Diri’s election after he dismissed the petition for being statute-barred.

Justice Sirajo said there was evidence that ANDP was disqualified from the election for fielding an under-aged deputy candidate.