The Court of Appeal in Benin, on Friday validated the election of the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, had filed an appeal at the Appeal court after he lost at the Election Petition Tribunal.
The Justice Ahmed Badamasi – led Tribunal had on Friday, April 14, 2017, upheld the election of Governor Obaseki of the APC, who was declared winner of the September 28, 2016 governorship election in Edo state by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Ize-Iyamu had through his counsels led by Yusuf Ali (SAN), appealed the judgment, asking the appellate court to rely and use the evidence of the first appellant as recorded by Justice Gilbert Ngele (Member 1) of the lower Tribunal instead of that of the Tribunal’s chairman, Justice Ahmed Badamasi
But striking out Ize-Iyamu’s appeal, the Justice Dongban-Mensen- led court ruled that the Justice Ahmed Badamasi-led Tribunal did a painstaking job in its judgement, and so deserved commendation.
Justice Dongban-Mensen held that the Tribunal should be commended for properly evaluating all the witnesses’ evidence and ascribing “probative value” to it.
The Judge also held that the PDP, from evidence did not prove their case to warrant the nullification of the election or a declaration of Pastor Ize-Iyamu as the winner of the Edo governorship election.
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