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A seven-man panel of the Supreme Court on Wednesday affirmed Douye Diri as the duly elected governor of Bayelsa State. In a unanimous judgement by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, the apex court dismissed the six appeals filed against the governor and his deputy, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo. Justice Ngwuta, in his judgement, predicated the dismissal of the appeals on the withdrawal of the six appeals by lawyers of the appellants. The appeals dismissed were filed by the Alliance for Democracy, Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party and Labour Movement

Accord Party against Diri and Ewhrudjakpo was also dismissed. Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party came second in the last year’s governorship election in the state. He was later declared the elected governor of the state in a subsequent Supreme Court judgment disqualifying the All Progressives Congress’s candidate David Lyon who earlier emerged the winner of the poll. Diri’s victory has been challenged a number of times but the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja had at different times also affirmed him as the duly elected governor of the state.

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