Bayelsa State governorship election tribunal has sacked the state governor, Duoye Diri, on the account that the election that saw his emergence was not properly conducted.
The tribunal sitting in Abuja, made the declaration on Monday.
It faulted the election on the basis that the candidate of the Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party, ANDP, Lucky King-George, was excluded from the election which was held on November 16, 2019.
In its judgement read by Justice Yunusa Musa, the tribunal, therefore, directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct a fresh election within 90 days of the declaration.
King-George, had asked the tribunal to declare the election illegal following his exclusion from the exercise as the candidate of the ANDP.
In its defence, INEC said it excluded ANDP from the election because David Esinkuma, who was originally fielded as the candidate of did not meet the 35 years age requirement for the election as he was 34 years old.
ANDP however argued that Esinkuma was replaced with King-George within the required time frame.
According to the party, with the replacement, INEC should not have excluded its candidate from the election.
Diri is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and was sworn in after David Lyon of the All Progressives Congress, APC, was sacked by the Supreme Court, less than 24 hours before his inauguration.
Lyon’s sin was that his running mate, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremieoyo, forged the certificates he presented to INEC.
