The Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, has commended the judiciary for its steadfastness in protecting the sanctity of the ballot and upholding itself as the bastion of the nation’s democracy.

Dickson’s comment came on Thursday afternoon following the judgement of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the earlier judgement of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, in his favour.

Both the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal upheld the election of Dickson, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the governorship election in the State.

Former Governor of the State and candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Timipre Sylva, had petitioned the appellate court seeking to upturn the decision of the tribunal. But in its judgement in Abuja on Thursday, the Appeal Court, in a unanimous decision, dismissed Sylva’s petition as lacking in merit and affirmed Dickson’s election as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

It held that the APC failed to provide credible, cogent and convincing evidence for their appeal.

The five-man panel of justices, led by Justice Olukayode Bada, faulted Sylva on the various grounds of his petition, noting in particular that contrary to the petition, no credible election took place on December 6, 2016 in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.

Sylva had premised his argument on the cancellation of election in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area as the sole action of INEC, thereby contravening the law.

But both the tribunal and the Appeal Court thought otherwise.

Dickson, in the statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, has called on Sylva to stop the flagrant abuse of the judicial process and the needless distractions designed at overheating the polity.

He noted that the judgement indicated that the resolve of the people did not go in vain as he called for greater vigilance to protect democracy in the country.