The Supreme Court has dismissed Timi Alaibe’s suit, challenging the candidacy of Duoye Diri in the February Bayelsa State governorship election.
Alaibe had questioned the process that led to the emergence of Diri as the governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
A five-member panel of justices of the apex court presided by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour dismissed the appeal, on the grounds that the issue of election of party’s candidate is an internal affairs of a political party.
Counsel to Alaibe, Ifedayo Adedipe, withdrew the appeal after the panel members brought his attention to the fact that the issues raised in the appeal were not about the primary election but about internal affairs of the party.
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The apex court had drawn the attention of the counsel to the grouse of the appellant which centered on the process that produced delegates for the primary election and not the primary election itself.
Quoting part of the processes filed by Alaibe, the panel held that he never claimed to have won the primary election and as such his matter was a pre-primary election issue that the court cannot delve into.
Adedipe told the court: “My Lords, at this level, I can’t pretend not to see the handwriting on the wall in view of the position of the panel, which held that the case was an internal matter of the party. In view of my Lords’ observation and x-raying of the case, I apply for the withdrawal of the appeal.”
Following his application and the non objection by respondents in the matter, the panel of justices of the apex court unanimously struck out the appeal.
Alaibe, who had lost the suit at the Federal High Court, Owerri and the Port Harcourt division of the Court of Appeal, had in the suit challenged the participation of two delegates who voted in the primary that produced Diri as the party’s candidate.
In the preliminary inquiry preceding the hearing on Tuesday, the Justice Rhodes-Vivour panel informed Adedipe 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, who was a governorship aspirant of the PDP in the 2019 election, had instituted a suit against the party, Diri and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the Federal High Court in Owerri, Imo State, which declined jurisdiction.
Not satisfied with the outcome of the judgment of the High Court, Alaibe moved to the Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri.
The Appeal Court dismissed his appeal for lacking in merit, while ruling against fresh governorship primary election. Dissatisfied with the decision of the Appeal Court, Alaibe approached the apex court where he prayed the court to declare him the duly elected governor of Bayelsa State.
Diri was pronounced as Bayelsa State governor on February 13 after the Supreme Court sacked David Lyon of the All Progressives Congress (APC) less than 24 hours before his inauguration as governor of the state.
