EDO: Appeal Court affirms Obaseki as elected gov

The Court of Appeal has upheld the ruling of the Edo State Governorship Election Perition Tribunal, which upheld Governor Godwin Obaseki as the duly elected governor of the state.

The Appellate Court sitting in Benin, the state capital, threw out the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, challenging the Tribunal’s ruling.

INEC had declared Obaseki, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the ‎winner of the September 28, 2016, governorship poll.

But Ize-Iyamu and his party the PDP approached the Tribunal to upturn the INEC declaration. Failure to achieve this, they went further to the Appeal Court to upturn the election results.

But the five-man panel, led by Justice M. B. Dongban Mensem, returned the same verdict, that Obaseki was duly elected, and dismissed the appeal for lack of merit.

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The appellate court, in a unanimous judgement read by Justice M. O. Bolaji-Yusuf, said the tribunal did a “thorough” consideration of the issues raised by the appellants.

It added, “We have considered all the issues and, at the end, we found that the conclusion of the tribunal, as has been shown, is unassailable.

“The tribunal carried out a painstaking, detailed and thorough consideration ‎of all aspects of the appellants’ case; it deserves commendation.

“Having resolved the issues identified against the appellants, we find this unmeritorous. It is, hereby, dismissed. Each party shall bear his or her own cost.”

Reacting to the judgment, Obaseki said it is God’s affirmation of his victory at the poll.

But Ize-Iyamu said his lawyers and the party elders would study the judgment before deciding on their next course of action.

 

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