Adeyinka Adedipe
The Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Monday affirmed the victory of the state governor, Godwin Obaseki, in the September 19, 2020 governorship poll in the state by dismissing of all petitions filed against him and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party.
Five political parties had filed petitions against the declaration of Obaseki as the winner of the election.
But the Justice Yunusa Musa-led three-man tribunal, while delivering judgment on the petitions in Benin, unanimously dismissed all the petitions filed by the aggrieved parties for lack of merit.
The tribunal held that the petitioners could not substantiate their respective claims and awarded the sum of N200,000 each to the Independent National Electoral Commission, Obaseki, Philip Shaibu against one of the petitioners, Allied Peoples Movement.
“The petitioners have a duty to prove their allegations beyond reasonable doubts. There is no evidence of testimony that established the certificate is forged. The witnesses called never visited the school to confirm the genuineness of the certificate,” the tribunal stated.
The petitioners included the Action Democratic Party, Action Peoples Party, Action Alliance and the APM.
The candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Agol Tracy, failed to join her party in her petition.
They predicated their cases on the basis of controversial degree result submitted alongside nomination and expression of interest forms to INEC by the governor for the purpose of the election, and claims of unlawful exclusion from the poll.
Reacting shortly after the judgment, the state deputy governor, Philip Shaibu, said the judgment reaffirmed the will of the people.
He added that the people of the state should expect more of development now that the case is over.