Tribunal rejects APC’s prayers to stop PDP’s use of forensics, gives condition for PDP’s use

-



The Edo State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Benin, on Wednesday, declined to issue an order to the All Progressive Congress (APC) and Mr Godwin Obaseki, restraining the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the September 28 governorship election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, from utilizing any equipment to examine, scan, or howsoever interact with the ballot papers used in the election.

However, the Tribunal ordered that the proposed scanning or forensic analysis by the PDP should be done if the integrity of such equipment to be used has been demonstrated and cleared by the Election Petition Tribunal.

The PDP has said that it is willing and prepared to demonstrate the equipment before the tribunal but thanked the tribunal for not accepting the prayers of the APC for outright disapproval of the use of the forensic materials.

After hearing the four paragraph motion and the sworn affidavit of the APC, the Hon. Justice A. Badamasi-led Tribunal declined to grant their application for disapproval of the use of the machines but however ordered that the PDP and Pastor Ize-Iyamu be made to supply the name, model and serial number of the equipment they want to use in scanning the ballot papers at least two days before the scanning exercise can take place.

Significantly, the Election Petition Tribunal also ordered that the equipment should be demonstrated at the Independent Electoral Commission’s offices in the presence of all the parties or their representatives with not more than five representatives each.

It would be recalled that interim governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, the candidate of the APC, was declared winner by INEC in the September 28th Gubernatorial election on September 29, 2016, which was adjudged by local and international observers as rigged, fraudulent, monetized and not credible.

The PDP went to the tribunal to demand for a declaration by the tribunal that they actually won the election.

It remain to be seen how the tribunal will react. The PDP have made their case and the APC has responded yesterday. The PDP will make a final response within the next five days and the tribunal will announce the date for the commencement of hearing.












Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A LAGOS YORUBA SENATOR, Ogunlewe ACCOUNTS FOR IGBO CONTRIBUTIONS IN LAGOS since they settled in Oyingbo in the Aros 15th Century along with the Bini

-
Image
Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe wrote this beautiful piece, read and learn. Lagos State belongs as much to the ethnic Igbo as to the Yoruba, Ijaw, Hausa, Fulani, Efik, Idoma, Urhobo, Itshekiri, Edo, and so on who live in it, pay tax, identify with it, and settle in it. That compact was made the moment Nigeria became a single nation, and a successor power to the old principalities who were subdued and who ceded their sovereignty for the new commonwealth of Nigeria. It was pragmatic. The Igbo had the skill and the industry, and Lagos was the seat of the Federal Government of Nigeria and its major port. The Igbo have lived in Lagos since the 15th century when the Aro and other Igbo first settled in good number in a place we now call “Oyingbo” in the era of Benin and the Portuguese trade. The arrival of Dr. Namdi Azikiwe to Lagos in 1937 from Accra after his studies in the United States, stimulated the political and cultural environment of Lagos as no other has before or after
Read more

10 Popular Nigerian Lies With Enormous Staying Power

-
Image
 10 popular Nigerian lies with enormous staying power In Nigeria, once lies and historical myths take roots, they are almost always impossible to uproot. But the stubborn persistence of lies is no reason to give up on correcting them. Find below 10 oft-repeated lies with the most staying power in Nigeria. 1.  That the Nigerian government banned history in secondary schools. In the last few years, the claim that the Nigerian government “banned history” from the national curriculum has become a hackneyed, predictable refrain, and is often uttered in moments of displays of historical ignorance, especially by young people. But this refrain is both dishonest and inaccurate. History was never a mandatory subject at any point in Nigeria’s history. It was always optional before it was discontinued in 2012 because of progressively dwindling student enrollment. History and Government were offered as alternatives to each other for students. That is, you enrolled in either History or Government bu
Read more

Boko Haram Sponsors Have Links With Nigerian Military: Army General Forcibly Retired Petitions To President Tinubu

-
Image
General Ali-Keffi who was forced out of the army for exposing his colleagues' involvement with terror financing, disclosed this in a letter to President Bola Tinubu, which also detailed his arrest, detention and compulsory retirement. Former General Officer Commanding (GOC), 1 Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, Maj Gen Ali-Keffi, has revealed that terrorism financing, procurement and movement of arms and ammunition for Boko Haram and other criminal elements have links to the military. General Ali-Keffi, who was forced out of the army for exposing his colleagues' involvement with terror financing, disclosed this in a letter to President Bola Tinubu, which also detailed his arrest, detention and compulsory retirement. The most worrisome aspect was that some of the individuals involved in terrorism financing of Boko Haram terrorists and who were also involved in procurement and movement of arms and ammunition for Boko Haram and other criminal organisations had links with th
Read more