The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State has explained why it rejected Friday’s ruling of the Election Petitions Tribunal which affirmed the election of Governor Godwin Obaseki.
Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Ahmed Badamasi, had in a unanimous judgment thrown out the petition of the PDP and its governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu for failing to support their pleadings with evidence as well as abandoning some pleadings in their petition.
State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, who gave reasons why the party rejected the judgement said the tribunal threw away the results obtained from the inconclusive ballot recount.
Chief Orbih said the tribunal expected the party and its candidate to call over 2,000 witnesses within the 14 days allotted to prove its case.
Orbih noted that the tribunal through it pronouncement said different unit presiding officers could adopt different standards in the conduct of same election and that the tribunal was saying that there was no need for uniformity in the conduct of elections.
He said, “Conduct of an election is not a free-for-all exercise where anyone is at liberty to apply his own discretion. What Justice Badamasi was simply saying was that whether the presiding officers followed the regulations or not did not matter.
“For the first time ever, a judge redefined over-voting as a situation whereby the total number of votes cast exceeds the total number of registered voters. Is that not laughable? I think these are the salient issues that we will challenge.”
Orbih also challenged former governor Adams Oshiomhole to explain what he meant when he (Oshiomhole) referred to the tribunal verdict as “Mama Akara judgement.”
He stated that Oshiomhole’s comment suggested that Oshiomhole may have inadvertently exposed how his party purchased the verdict.
His words, “I watched former Governor Adams Oshiomhole on national television describing Friday’s judgement as Mama Akara judgement. This is about the first time Oshiomhole will be describing things the way they are in his political life.”
“We know what goes into the making of akara and we also know that the Mama Akara will not part with her akara for nothing. So, we are demanding from Oshiomhole to tell Edo people and indeed Nigerians what was handed the Mama Akara before she let go of her akara.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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