NASS poll: LP floors APC, PDP at tribunal in Edo

The National/State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal, which was sitting in Benin, the capital of Edo State, has confirmed that Omoruyi Osaro of the Labour Party was the victor in the election for the Egor/Ikpoba-Okha Federal Constituency, which took place on February 25, 2023 in Edo.

The court rejected the two separate challenges that had been submitted by candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, Okhuarobo Osuede of the PDP and Hon. Crosby Eribo of the All Progressives Congress. These candidates had challenged the qualification of Osaro as well as the outcome of the election for the National Assembly.

The petitions that were marked EPT/ED/HR/06/2023 and EPT/ED/HR/08/2023 were both dismissed by the court due to a lack of merits, and the decision was reached unanimously by the three-member panel of the tribunal that was led by Justice O. A. Chijioke.

The election tribunal came to the conclusion that the two petitioners were unable to provide sufficient evidence to support their claims that the LP candidate in question had violated the electoral act, engaged in corrupt practices, or was unable to run for office.

Justice O.A. Chijioke, who delivered the unanimous verdicts, found that the petitioners failed to show their argument, and as a result, the petition was rejected because it lacked merit.

The petitions were dismissed by the tribunal because “We hold that the petitioners failed to substantiate any of the reasons asserted in the petitions,” which translates to “the petitions are hereby dismissed for lack of merits.”

The petitioners, Osamuede and Eribo, had sought the tribunal to dispute the election of Osaro on the grounds that he was not entitled to contest the election. The petitions that the petitioners had submitted to the tribunal were independent from one another.

Eribo further suggested that the candidate for the LP was a citizen of the United States of America, which would contradict the provisions of Section 77 of the Electoral Act, 2022, as amended, as well as Section 66 of the constitution of Nigeria.

Eribo subsequently asserted that by inference, LP did not have a candidate in the race since he also argued that Osaro was not validly nominated by the Labour Party for the election. He also argued that Osaro was not validly nominated by the Labour Party for the election.

The election panel, which was led by Justice Chijioke and resolved all of the grounds against Okhuarobo and Eribo, asserted that the petitioners essentially dumped documents on the tribunal without providing any value to the materials as evidence.