The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of assuming the power of the judiciary to itself by declaring the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Duoye Diri as the duly elected governor of Bayelsa State.
Senator Diri was sworn in as the fifth civilian governor of Bayelsa state on Friday, after a judgement by a five-man panel of the Supreme Court sacking elected candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), David Lyon, and his Deputy, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremieoyo, hours before the inauguration.
Addressing a news conference on Friday, the National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole said that INEC acted illegally and the party is rejecting the declaration.
“I believe the fact that the Supreme Court insisted on the constitutional spread is in consideration of the fact that the constitution does not want a situation In which anyone; governor or president, preside over the affairs of their state without at least, enjoying two-third support of the state’s electorate.
“The votes scored by PDP and their candidate in that election, only met the requirement in five local government and you need six LG to meet the requirements of two-third; and the PDP candidate did not satisfy this requirement.
“INEC has now chosen to appropriate judicial powers to interpret laws that its neither competent to do; rather than allow the court to clarify the issue, INEC sought to appropriate judicial powers and chose to proceed without any express order from the Supreme Court,” he stated.
He stated that the party will seek legal redress to reclaim its mandate in the state.
“As a party, we have consulted and we have resolved that we do not accept and we reject the decision of INEC to illegally declare the PDP candidate as the winner of the election and purporting to waste votes cast in favour of David Lyon.
“We still believe that there are viable legal windows we can explore; we still affirm our confidence in the judiciary even with the pains in our heart,” he said.
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