The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reversed the August 17 ruling of the Bayelsa election petition tribunal which sacked Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from his position as Bayelsa State governor.
In a Friday ruling, a five-man panel of the appellate court, in two unanimous judgments, held that the tribunal was wrong to have assumed jurisdiction over the petition filed on February 26 by the Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party (ANDP) and grant the reliefs sought by the petitioner.
According to the appellate court, the cause of action was statute-barred as of the time ANDP filed its petition because its grouses of unlawful exclusion and unlawful disqualification are pre-election issues that ought to be raised within 14 days.
The court berated the tribunal for ignoring the fact the ANDP presented an unqualified candidate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
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