CHINEDU WOSU, Yenagoa
The Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has declared Mr. Alfred Belemote Watson of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), winner of the Brass Constituency 2 election into the Bayelsa State House of Assembly.
The Court also upheld the ruling of the state Election Petitions Tribunal which had nullified the election of Dr. Michael Awoli Anapurere of the PDP representing Ogbia constituency 2 in the state House of Assembly.
The ruling now increases the number of the opposition party membership to five in the 24-member Bayelsa State House of Assembly.
In its ruling, the Appeal Court upheld the earlier ruling of the State House of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to issue Mr. Watson with a Certificate of Returns.
The appellate court also declared Mr. Gibson Munalayefa of the Labour Party as winner of the election having scored the highest valid votes cast.
Only recently, the court sacked Ms. Naomi Ogoli of the PDP as member representing Ogbia Constituency 3 and declared Mr. Gabriel Ogbara of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as the authentic winner of the election in the constituency.
In the 2015 general election, Mr.Ebiye Tarabina of APGA was elected for Kolokuma/Opokuma constituency 2, while Mr.Sunny Israel Goli of All Progressives Congress (APC) was elected as lawmaker representing Brass Constituency 1.
