The Court of Appeal sitting in Benin City will today deliver its judgment on the appeal filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu against the judgment of the lower tribunal.
Governor Godwin Obaseki and the All Progressive Congress (APC) filed a cross appeal over a ruling of the tribunal refusing to strike out some paragraphs in the petition and to invalidate the order by the tribunal for the inconclusive recount of ballot papers used during the election.
Pastor Ize-Iyamu filed 41 grounds of appeal against the tribunal judgment while Obaseki filed four grounds of cross appeal.
The three-man tribunal panel led by Justice Ahmed Badamasi upheld the election of Obaseki by throwing out the petition of Pastor Ize-Iyamu.
Part of Pastor Ize-Iyamu grounds of appeal was for the appellate court to hold that the tribunal judges erred and truncated their (appellants) right to fair hearing by the unequal treatment given to the cases of the parties, “by first finding fault, discrediting, disbelieving and dismissing their petition before considering at all and reviewing the testimonies of the witnesses of the respondents and, thus, occasioning a miscarriage of justice.”
They told the Court of Appeal that the tribunal also erred in law and truncated their right to fair hearing where, in consideration of their case, it failed “totally” to consider and make any pronouncement on the issue concerning, “whether the second respondent was duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast” in the election “and if not, whether the first petitioner (Ize-Iyamu) is not entitled to be returned as the Governor of Edo State.”
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