New Telegraph

Two more parties file petitions against Obaseki’s victory

6666Two more political parties have filed their petitions seeking to nullify the declaration of Governor Obaseki Obaseki as winner of the September 19 governorship election in Edo State by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

 

The petitions were filed at the close of submission of petitions by aggrieved parties against the outcome of the September 19 governorship election in Edo State on Saturday October 10.

 

The two additional parties are seeking to nullify the victory of Godwin Obaseki as candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the election. In two separate petitions filed at the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Saturday, the two political parties, the Allied Peoples Movement, APM and the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, are asking the tribunal to nullify the declaration of Obaseki as the winner of the election on the grounds that the conduct of the September 19 poll violated, substantially, the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigerian and the Extant Electoral Act 2010 (As Amended 2015).

 

The two new petitions have brought to five, the numbers of petitions against the election and the winner, with the submission of petitions closed on Saturday, October 10.

 

Respondents in the suit have 21 days to respond to the issues canvassed in the petitions after which the tribunal is expected to commence sitting. In its petition, APM joined the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the PDP, Governor Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, as 1st to 4th respondents in that order, while Agol Trace Ebun, NNPP candidate in the election joined INEC, PDP and Obaseki as 1st to 3rd respondents in that order.

 

The similarities in the two separate petitions and others before them bother on the issues of the eligibility or otherwise of Obaseki to contest the election on the claim that he submitted false and or forged certificates to INEC, allegation of Obaseki’s participation in two separate primary elections of two different political parties, namely: PDP and the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the same election and other sundry matters.

 

The two separate petitions also sought similar reliefs which include a declaration that Obaseki was not duly elected in the said September 19, 2020 election by virtue of his not being qualified to contest having allegedly submitted false and or forged certificate; a declaration that PDP and Obaseki are not qualified to contest the poll in the firstinstance because of the alleged falseand or forged certificate; an order asking INEC to conductafreshelectionamong onlyqualified candidatesinthe aforesaid election to the exclusion of PDP and Obaseki and an order to withdraw the certificate of return earlier issued to Obaseki by INEC.

 

The NNPP, however, in its petition, sought a new relief to the extent that since Obaseki did not indicate the primary school he attended, is deemed not to have been educated up to Secondary School Level or its equivalent, and as such not, qualified to contest the election.

 

The APM, alternatively, asked the tribunal to nullify the election on the grounds that the return of Obaseki as winner “are voided by acts bothering on rigging and manipulation of election results; unprecedented acts of violence, thuggery and coercion of voters and unlawful interference in the electoral process by the respondents”.

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