Supreme Court Ruling: INEC explains why it declares PDP’s Diri Bayelsa governor-elect

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has explained why it has paved the way for the swearing-in of the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Douye Diri, as governor of Bayelsa State after Thursday’s Supreme Court judgment that sacked the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Mr David Lyon, who was earlier declared winner of the November governorship election.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, told journalists Friday in Abuja that Diri has met all the constitutional requirements to become the governor-elect of Bayelsa, with the removal of Lyon and his votes from the election result as ordered by the court.

“Without the votes scored by the All Progressives Congress (APC), whose candidates were deemed not to have participated in the election, the total number of lawful votes cast in the election now stand at 146,999.

“Out of this figure, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored the highest number of lawful votes with 143,172,” Yakubu said.

“Similarly, the Party (PDP) has scored more than 25% of the lawful votes cast in all the eight (8) Local Government Areas of the State,” he added.