EDO: Election tribunal opens in Benin, gives aggrieved parties 21 days to submit petitions

21 days to submit petitions

THE secretariat of the Edo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal has opened to receive petitions arising from the Saturday, September 19 governorship poll in the state.

According to a statement by the Secretary of the tribunal, Sunday Martins, on Tuesday, the High Court Complex in Benin, the Edo State capital, had been designated as the venue of the exercise.

The statement read, “The general public is hereby put on notice that the Honourable President of Court of Appeal of Nigeria Hon. Justice M. B Dongban Mensem has established the Election Petition Tribunal Secretariat and accordingly constituted a panel in respect of the Governorship Election conducted in Edo State.

 “The Honorable Chief Judge of the State, Hon. Justice E. A. Edigin, has graciously approved the use of High Court Complex (Election Petition Court Hall), Sapele Road, Benin City for the Tribunal Exercise. The Secretariat is now open.”

Aggrieved candidates and political parties who were dissatisfied with the outcome of Saturday’s election have 21 days to file their petition at the tribunal’s secretariat in Benin from when the results of the poll were announced on Sunday.

It will be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission had on Sunday declared Governor Godwin Obaseki of the People’s Democratic Party as the winner of the election for his second term in office, defeating Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the All Progressives Congress, and 12 others in the keenly contested poll.

Though President Buhari had sent a congratulatory message to Obaseki on his victory at the poll, Ize-Iyamu, his rival, faulted the electoral process that resulted in Obaseki’s victory.

Ize-Iyamu had said he would make known his next line of action, later.

Meanwhile, the president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Dongban-Mensem, had in line with her statutory powers, constituted judges to serve on the election petition tribunals for the governorship elections in Edo and the forthcoming Ondo’s, as well as other legislative elections in different parts of the country.

Recall that ahead of the polls, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, had on September 10, 2020, sworn in 85 judges to serve on the tribunals to adjudicate on disputes arising from the polls.