The Supreme Court has dismissed Timi Alaibe’s appeal challenging the validity of the candidacy of Governor Duoye Diri in the November 2019 election in Bayelsa State.
Alaibe claimed he was the authentic candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.
A five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour dismissed the appeal.
Justice Rhodes-Vivour panel informed Alaibe that his case could not be categorised as a pre-election case that a court could entertain, but about an internal affair of the party, which the court lacked jurisdiction to hear.
Alaibe’s lawyer, Chief Ifedayo Adedipe, withdrew the appeal after the panel members pointed his attention to the fact that the issues raised in the appeal were not about the primary election but about an internal affair of the party.
Alaibe, who had earlier lost a similar suit at the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, is claiming that he is the authentic candidate of the PDP.
Diri was sworn in on February 14, a day after the Supreme Court sacked the former Governor-elect of Bayelsa State, David Lyon, and his Deputy, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremieoyo.
Lyon’s election was nullified for submitting forged certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
