YENAGOA, Nigeria – Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri has once again advised Timipre Sylva, the All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship candidate in the November 11, 2023 poll, to come to terms with his “serial losses at the courts and stop casting aspersions on the judiciary.”
Sylva, a former Bayelsa governor and former minister of state for petroleum, has faced defeat both at the election petition tribunal and the Court of Appeal.
On July 18, the appellate court ruled that Sylva’s case lacked merit, stating that he could not provide convincing evidence to invalidate the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) decision that elections were not held in 182 polling units.
However, in response to the judgement, Sylva accused the appellate court justices of breaching several portions of the Nigerian Constitution and claimed the judgement “sadly reflected some of the concerns expressed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria recently.”
Reacting to this, Governor Diri, through a statement released on Saturday, July 20, 2024, by his chief press secretary, Daniel Alabrah, criticised Sylva’s comments. Diri said that by referencing the “concerns” of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Sylva was trying to be “smart by half.”
“To be sure, there were no conflicts or inconsistencies in the judgement of the Appeal Court as the verdict was clear as crystal and consistent with the earlier judgement delivered by the state election tribunal,” Diri said.
“After losing the November 11, 2023 governorship poll, Sylva poured dirt on INEC. Having lost at the tribunal and the appellate court, the APC candidate now acts the bad loser he is by denigrating the judiciary.”
Diri further stated, “For a man whose party already accepted defeat in the election, one wonders the ‘stolen mandate’ that Sylva lays claim to. For us in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the governorship poll was won through the overwhelming support and endorsement of the Bayelsa electorate. The well-delivered verdicts of the tribunal and appellate court have equally put a seal to the votes of the Bayelsa people. Sylva can only play to the gallery by whipping up sentiments to deceive those gullible enough to believe him.
“There are no two mandates in Bayelsa State and the overwhelming majority of people of our state know who has it. Sylva can only lay claim to a phantom, non-existent mandate.”
