Bayelsa: Tribunal dashes Sylva’s hope, upholds Dickson’s election

The Bayelsa State Governorship Electoral Petitions Tribunal, on Tuesday, upheld the election of Governor Seriake Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

In dismissing the petition brought before it by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Timipre Silva and his party, the tribunal held that the petitioners failed to prove their case with credible evidence.

The tribunal also held that the criminal allegations of various electoral offences which the petitioners stated affected the outcome of the election were not proved beyond reasonable doubt. It also held that the petitioners did not back their petition with proof and the required standard.

Sylva and the APC, in a petition filed on January 30, had alleged that the election that produced Dickson as winner was marred by malpractices, intimidation of voters, hijacking of electoral materials, no-voting and non-collation of results in substantial parts of Sagbama, Yenogoa, Nembe, Ogbia and Ekeremor Local Government Areas.

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They also contended that the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in the state lacked the power to unilaterally cancel the supplementary election scheduled in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area for December 6, 2015 and rescheduled it to January 9, 2016.

However, the tribunal, in its judgment, held that INEC was right and had the power to have cancelled the supplementary election.

The tribunal also ruled that the REC did not unilaterally cancel the supplimentary election but only announced a decision reached by INEC.

The three man panel further held that there was evidence that the earlier supplementary election scheduled to hold on December 6, 2015, was marred by widespread violence, malpractices and irregularities.

By Timothy Enietan-Matthews

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