The National/House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Benin has affirmed the election of Rep. Peter Akpatason of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency of Edo.
The judgment was delivered by Justice Yusuf Mohammed-led three-man panel.
The tribunal dismissed the petition by the Labour Party (LP) Candidate, Omobayo Godwin, for lacking in merit and incompetent.
The Tribunal said that it could not make a case for the petitioner.
It said that the onus of proof lied on the petitioner and he must not rely on the admissions of the respondents, as the petitioner did not discharge the burden of proof as required by the law, hence, the petition was dismissed.
The tribunal held that the petitioner failed woefully to prove that the 3rd respondent (Independent National Electoral Commission) unlawfully declared Akpatason as the winner of the election.
INEC had declared Akpatason as the winner of the election with 14, 982 votes, while Godwin came third with 7992 votes.
Dissatisfied with the declaration, he approached the tribunal to challenge the return of Akpakpava on the grounds of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 and others.
The tribunal also dismissed the petition of Osaro Osazee of the APC against the election of Esosa Iyawe for Oredo Federal Constituency for lack of merit.
Delivering the unanimous judgement on behalf of the panel, Justice K. A. Leweanya, held that the tribunal lacked jurisdiction to entertain the petition which bordered mainly on the qualification of the 2nd respondent, Esosa Iyawe of the LP.
The tribunal averred that the issues raised in the petition were pre-election matters that ought to have been challenged at the Federal High Court within 14 days of the occurrence of the event.
“We held that the first 2nd respondent was a member of the 3rd respondent and was duly elected by the party’s primary election and presented to INEC for the election.
“This petition is hereby dismissed and the 2nd respondent is hereby declared winner of the Oredo Federal Constituency election as conducted on February 25,” he said.
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