· Governor Godwin Obaseki has again defeated his opponents –
· The Court of Appeal sitting in Edo on Wednesday, May 26, upheld Obaseki at the poll –
· Obaseki had last year defeated the candidate of the APC, Ize Iyamu and others during the governorship election
The Benin division of the Court of Appeal has upheld the judgement of the Edo state governorship election petition tribunal which affirmed the victory of Godwin Obaseki.
A report by the Nigerian Tribute states that in a unanimous judgement delivered by a five-man panel through zoom on Wednesday, May 26, the judges resolved all the issues in favour of the governor against the applicants.
It was gathered that the appellants included Action Democratic Party (ADP), Action Peoples Party (APP) and Allied Peoples Movement (APM). They had approached the higher court after expressing their dissatisfaction with the judgement delivered by the Edo state governorship electoral petition tribunal, filed their respective appeal before the Court of Appeal.
Reading the judgement for the petition filed by the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Justice M.A. Owoade, said that the tribunal was not in error when it ruled that Obaseki was educated up to school certificate level.
ADP had filed an appeal to nullify the declaration of Obaseki as the winner of the election based on controversial degree result alongside nomination and express of interest forms submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The court also dismissed petitions filed by the Action Peoples Party (APP) for lack of merits and awarded the sum of N600,000 against the appellants. Similarly, petitions filed by the Allied Peoples Movement was also resolved in favour of Governor Obaseki and other respondents.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that a former commissioner for information in Edo state and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Charles Idahosa, gave details about the crisis rocking the state chapter of the party. It was reported that Idahosa faulted the petition written by the chairman of the party in the state, Anthony Aziegbemi, to the national chairman, Uche Secondus, to stop Governor Godwin Obaseki from dissolving the state executive.
