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Bayelsa State Gov. Duoye Diri Wins At Appeal Court: More Scenes Of Desperate Games Of Chance Await Nigeria’s Elections


The Oasis Reporters


October 3, 2020

Bayelsa State Governor Duoye Diri.



The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division has set aside the judgment of the Bayelsa State Election Tribunal nullifying the election of the governor of Bayelsa State, which seemed like a spanner in the wheel of governance when politicians who lose elections go to court seeking to upturn mandates already given in free and fair elections.



Douye Diri has won this round though, and his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is ecstatic, according to this tweet on its official handle.



The court up-turned the judgment of the tribunal, saying that the ANDP did not prove valid nomination of its gubernatorial candidate to contend unlawful exclusion. People on the streets of Yenagoa, the State capital say that the ANDP candidate neither campaigned in the media enough to sell himself, nor was he seen on the streets of the towns in the riverine state with more water mass than landmass, campaigning.

But then, elections in Nigeria go beyond the popular vote. A popular and widely acclaimed winner may not assume office unless he is very lucky, for after the vote comes the election tribunal. Then the Appeals Court tribunal before finally being settled at the Supreme Court which must have the final say on who sits in the Government House.


In such a case, the mandate loser becomes the underdog and depending on how desperate he can fight, the seat of governance is usually up for desperate grabs, not always by the vote.


If anything, Governor Duoye Diri lost the election to the APC candidate by a wide margin and was already rehearsing the march-past sequence and speech when word got to him that he had been sacked because his deputy had a defective certificate.


The same thing happened to the Zamfara State elections after previously happening in Osun State, and it once again happened in Imo State.

Underdogs don’t quit easily even when they have a bad case. This will continue to happen until politicians imbibe the spirit of chivalry in sports.



By Greg Abolo



Additional reporting: Twitter.

Greg Abolo

Blogger at The Oasis Reporters.

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