Edo: Obaseki Secures Victory In Suit Challenging His Election As Governor

The petition filed by the Action Democratic Party (ADP) and its governorship candidate, Iboi Emmanuel against the victory of Godwin Obaseki as the Edo State Governor has been dismissed.

Likewise, all other suits before the tribunal challenging Obaseki’s victory were dismissed on Monday by the Edo governorship election petitions tribunal led by Justice Yunusa Musa.

The suits were dismissed for lack of merit.

It will be recalled that Obaseki who contested the September 19, 2020 election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

But not satisfied with the results, some parties and their candidates headed to the tribunal to challenge his victory.

While the tribunal had given judgment in other petitions on the Edo governorship polls, the remaining petitions filed by the Action Democratic Party (ADP) and its candidate, Iboi Emmanuel, Tracy Agol of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA) and Allied Peoples Movement (APM) were ruled upon today.

Naija News understands that Agol did not include her party in the petition against Governor Godwin Obaseki of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Delivering judgment in Benin, the Justice Musa-led three-man tribunal, unanimously dismissed all the petitions filed by the aggrieved parties for lack of merit.

“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 tribunal in the suit filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) ruled that the petitioners could not substantiate their respective claims and awarded the sum of N200,000 each to INEC, Godwin Obaseki, Philip Shaibu.