Bayelsa LP candidate asks tribunal to disqualify Diri, Sylva

The Labour Party governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, Udengs Eradiri, on Wednesday the the election petition tribunal to disqualify Governor Douye Diri, and his All Progressives Congress (APC) rival, Timipre Sylva, from the November 11 governorship election in the state.

Eradiri, who addressed the party stakeholders at ward and local government levels in Yenagoa, rejected the results of the election.

The LP candidate insisted that he was the only eligible candidate who scored the valid votes cast and deserved to be declared as the state’s duly elected governor.

Eradiri said he approached the tribunal after he thoroughly assessed the outcome of the poll.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on November 12 declared Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the election ahead of Sylva, a former minister of state for petroleum resources.

The LP candidate finished third in the exercise.

He said: “After the election, we said we were going to look at the issues, and I am here to officially inform the party’s leadership that we have gone to court, and we pray the court to declare me winner.

“The reason is that the PDP and APC produced candidates that were not eligible to contest the elections, and I won the valid votes cast in the election, so I should be declared governor of Bayelsa.

“There are issues of eligibility of the two candidates, and that is my reason for going to the tribunal. Many people have lost hope in the judiciary but that small thread we held on to is the basis for me to challenge the declaration.

“After studying the entire process, I have asked the tribunal to declare me governor. With the spread of my 950 votes you will see that in seven out of the eight local governments, I got the constitutional requirements, so if you invalidate the PDP and APC votes, I should be declared winner.

“However, if the court decides they’ll look the other way, we will still challenge it because of that small thread of hope we still believe that there are people of integrity in the judiciary and that is what we are holding on to.”

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