Edo gov election: Court rejects APC appeal against tribunal ruling

THE Benin City division of the Court of Appeal has ruled that the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal was right to stop the recount of ballot papers used for the conduct of the September 28, 2016 governorship election in four local government areas of the state.

Following uncompleted recount of ballot papers, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu,  had approached the Appeal Court, praying that the court should compel the Tribunal to allow for the completion of the recount of ballot in Akoko-Edo, Egor, Etsako-East and Etsako West local government areas.

The court, however, threw out a cross appeal by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Godwin Obaseki to declare illegal the order given by the Tribunal to the secretary of the Tribunal to release results of the uncompleted ballot recount.

Delivering judgement in the PDP and Ize-Iyamu’s appeal, the Appeal Court stated that Section 41 (10) of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act was clear that a petitioner shall conclude his case within the 14 days allotted him and that the “appellant was given enough time to be heard and was heard.”

The judges, including Mudashiru Nasiru and M.A Abumen ruled that procedure that were followed in election petitions were strictly regulated by laws and that they were different from the usual civil case because they were in a class of their own.

“I have no rights to fault the decision of the judges of the tribunal. The Tribunal was right to stop recounting after 14 days,” the judge ruled.

On the ballot recount and the uncompleted result, the Appeal Court threw out the objection of APC on the ballot recount, but declined to rule on what to do with the already counted ballot papers, on the ground that it could preempt the judgement of the Tribunal that is billed for next week.