Tribunal Sacks Edo APC Lawmaker

A member in the Edo State House of Assembly, Yakubu Gowon, has been axed by the Edo State Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Benin on Friday.

Gowon contested the April 11, 2015 Etsako West II Constituency election under the platform of All Progressives Congress, and was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, but his victory at the poll has now been upturned by the tribunal.

In a judgement read by Justice E Abuua, it was held that Gowon was not duly nominated by his party.

According to the tribunal, APC did not meet the mandatory 21 days’ notice to INEC for conducting the party’s primaries as stipulated by the Electoral Act.

It was disclosed that APC notified INEC on its intention to hold the primaries on November 13, 2014, while the primaries took place on December 1, 2014.

The tribunal then held that all the votes cast for the APC candidate were wasted and that candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the poll, Sylvanus Eriagha, who emerged first runner-up with 4,001 votes was the rightful person to be declared winner of the poll.

Meanwhile, Chairman of PDP in Edo State, Dan Orbih, has described the decision of the tribunal as ‘sweet victory’ for the party.

However, Publicity Secretary of APC in the state, Godwin Erhahon, disagreed with the tribunal.

He said the candidates were duly nominated and disclosed that the party’s legal team would study the judgement.