Appeal Court Affirms Governor Obaseki’s Victory

The Court of Appeal, Benin Division has upheld the judgement of the Edo State governorship election petition tribunal which affirmed the victory of Godwin Obaseki at the 2020 governorship poll in the state.

In a unanimous judgement delivered by a five-man panel through zoom, the judges resolved all the issues in favour of the governor against the applicants.

The appellants: Action Democratic Party (ADP), Action Peoples Party (APP) and Allied Peoples Movement (APM), had approached the higher court having expressed their dissatisfaction with the judgement delivered by the Edo State governorship electoral petition tribunal filed their respective appeal before the Court of Appeal.

Justice M.A. Owoade, while reading the judgement for the petition filed by the Action Democratic Party (ADP), said that the tribunal was not in error when it ruled that Obaseki was educated up to school certificate level.

The judge said: “The appeal is devoid of merits and is accordingly dismissed. Judgement by the tribunal is hereby affirmed”.

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) by the governor for the purpose of the election.

Also, the court dismissed petitions filed by the Action Peoples Party (APP) for lack of merits and awarded the sum of N600,000 against the appellants.

In the same vein, petitions filed by the Allied Peoples Movement was also resolved in favour of Governor Godwin Obaseki and other respondents.

Recall that five political parties filed petitions at the tribunal contesting the declaration of Godwin Obaseki by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) as the winner of the Edo State governorship election that was conducted on September 19, 2021.