Douye Diri, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election in Bayelsa held last November, is to be sworn Friday.
According to posters shared on social media by the commissioner for information in Bayelsa, Daniel Markson, Mr Diri will be sworn in alongside his running mate, Lawrence Ewhruojakpo, as deputy governor.
Candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), David Lyon, and his running mate, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, were scheduled to be sworn in before the Supreme Court ruled against them on Thursday.
Justice Ejembi Ekwo of the Supreme Court, reading the lead judgement, disqualified Mr Degi-Eremienyo as a candidate in the election, upholding the November 12, 2019 judgment of a Federal High Court in Abuja which disqualified him for submitting forged certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The apex court upheld the judgement, ruling that Degi-Eremienyo’s disqualification had infected his joint ticket with Lyon.
The court then ordered INEC to withdraw the certificates of return earlier issued to them and give fresh certificates to the candidates of the party with the next highest votes and with the required constitutional spread of votes in the results of the election held on November 16, 2019.
PDP’s candidates scored the next highest votes.
APC chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, however, says the PDP’s candidates did not get the constitutional spread of votes which is 25 per cent in all local governments in the state.
Mr Oshiomhole said on Thursday that the matter would be contested in court.
