Diri, PDP candidate for 2019 Bayelsa governorship election.
• Diri won in two out of eight local government areas
For now, no one will be sworn-in as Governor of Bayelsa state until the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC is served a copy of Thursday’s Supreme Court judgment which sacks David Lyon, the Governor-Elect.
INEC says when served the copy of the judgment it will have to determine which candidate will be the right beneficiary of the judgment going by the position of the court.
The implication is that no one may be sworn-in as Governor of Bayelsa state on Friday 14th.
This is despite wild jubilation by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that her candidate for the 2019 governorship election in Bayelsa state, Senator Douye Diri, would be sworn-in tomorrow in place of Mr. David Lyon, the Bayelsa Governor-elect who was sacked by the Supreme Court on Thursday 13th February.
READ ALSO : Supreme Court nullifies Bayelsa governor-elect’s election
The Supreme Court sacked David Lyon and Sen. Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, as governor and deputy governor-elect in the November 16, 2019, Bayelsa governorship election, over a forged educational qualification filed by Degi-Eremienyo.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will not issue a certificate of return to any candidate until it is served with a copy of the Supreme Court judgment.
News Agency of Nigeria quoted INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye, as saying that the commission will not act based on media report on the Supreme Court judgment.
“It is when we receive the certified true copy of the judgment that we have clear understanding of what the court tells us to do and we will give effect to the judgment of the supreme court.”
”All we have heard and seen as of today are just newspapers reports. We are waiting for our lawyers who are part of the proceedings and certified true copy of the judgment to enable us study and give effect to it.”
It usually takes more than a day before a certified true copy of a court judgment is produced due to entrenched bureaucracies in the Nigerian judiciary.
For now, there is no guarantee that INEC will be served a copy of the judgment before noon on Friday.
Recall that the sacked Governor- Elect of Bayelsa state, Mr. David Lyon and the Deputy Governor-Elect, Senator Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, were to be sworn-in by 10:a.m on Friday at the Coach Samson Siasia stadium, Yenogoa, Bayelsa state.
A five-member panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice Mary Peter-Odili in a very surprising judgment read by Justice Ejembi Ekwo, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to the All Progressives Congress’ candidates as the winners of the November 16, 2019 governorship election in the state.
The apex court also ordered INEC to issue fresh certificates to the candidates of the party with the next highest votes and with the required constitutional spread of votes in the results of the election, which are the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidates.
Mr. David Lyon, former Governor-Elect, Bayelsa state.
Consequent upon this judgment, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) supporters in Bayelsa State are in some wild jubilation over the nullification of the election of the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s candidate, David Lyon, as the governor-elect of the state, Premium Times reports.
The online newspaper reported Thursday evening that Channels television, in its news bulletin on Thursday, showed a video of PDP supporters drumming and dancing at the party secretariat in Yenagoa.
‘Winner oooh, winner! Winner ooooh, winner!’ the party supporters kept singing as they danced inside a crowded hall.
“The video showed another scene, at the Government House Bayelsa, where a crowd of PDP supporters were jubilating, dancing over the development. The camera caught some of the jubilant youth tearing APC flags into pieces.”
“It is not clear if the flag was hoisted in the Government House or it was brought in from outside”, the newspaper says.
However, it is not yet ascertained if the PDP governorship candidate, Senator Douye Diri, had the next highest votes and with the required constitutional spread of votes in the results of the election to be issued a certificate of return.
Pictorial presentation of votes scored by APC and PDP in the Bayelsa state governorship election.
Diri scored 143,172 votes against 352,552 scored by Lyons. But Diri won in two of the eight local government areas in the state.
Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress(APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has declared candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator Douye Diri cannot be sworn in on Friday as Bayelsa Governor because he did not meet the requirements of the Supreme Court.
Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman, APC.
Oshiomhole pointed out the judgement of the Supreme Court said the certificate of return should be issued to the candidate, who has the required spread in the election aside from David Lyon.
He said there was no candidate in the election that met the requirement apart from Lyon, adding that the implication is that from Friday Bayelsa will be without a Governor.
