IZE-IYAMU TO COURT- DECLARE ME WINNER AS APC’S LAWFULL VALID VOTE IS 130,696 WHILE PDP POLLED150,672.
PASTOR OSAGIE ANDREW IZE-IYAMU, THE GOVERNOR-IN-WAITING.
Some members and supporters of APC have gone viral with the rumour that according to the ELECTORAL ACT 2010 (AS AMENDED 2015), Pastor Osagie Andrew Ize-Iyamu cannot be declared winner of the 2016 Edo Governorship Election even when he is able to successfully prove his allegations of non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act and the 2016 INEC Manual. They are of the erroneous belief that the worst that can happen is for the election to be nullified and a rerun ordered. How far they are from the truth.
The 2010 Electoral Act as amended 2015 is very explicit on the issue. Read this:
NULLIFICATION OF ELECTION BY TRIBUNAL OR COURT
SECTION 140
(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, if the Tribunal or the Court as the case may be, determines that a candidate who was returned as elected was not validity elected on any ground, the Tribunal or the Court shall nullify the election.
(2) Where an election tribunal or court nullifies an election on the ground that the person who obtained the highest votes at the election was not qualified to contest the election, or that the election was marred by substantial irregularities or non-compliance with the provisions of this Act, the election tribunal or court shall not declare the person with the second highest votes or any other person as elected, but shall order a fresh election.
(3) If the Tribunal or the Court determines that a candidate who was returned as elected was not validly elected on the ground that he did not score the majority of valid votes cast at the election, the Election Tribunal or the Court, as the case may be, SHALL declare as elected the candidate who scored the highest number of valid votes cast at the election and satisfied the requirements of the Constitution and this Act.
To me even as a non legal practitioner, subsection 3 above empowers Pastor Osagie Andrew Ize-Iyamu to be declared winner when at the end of the ongoing proceedings, he would have successfully proved, as he is proving now, that majority of the votes allocated to Obaseki/APC are unlawful. What will be left at the end of the nullification of all the unlawful votes from the votes of both the Petitioners and the 2nd/3rd Respondents in all the wards and units CHALLENGED by the Petitioners added to the votes in the UNCHALLENGED wards and units will be enough to declare Pastor Osagie Andrew Ize-Iyamu winner by the Grace of God. Trust me, I can say this with all sincerely and optimism because I was privileged to be part of the team that critically analyzed INEC result sheets from the unit to state levels, its registers and all other relevant materials.
Now, what were the GROUNDS OF THE PETITION?
Paragraph 16:
Your Petitioners aver that the ground for the petition are as follows, namely:
(i) That the 2nd Respondent was NOT duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the election.
(ii) That the election of the 2nd Respondent was invalid by reason on non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.
(iii) That the election of the 2nd Respondent was invalid by reason of corrupt practices.
Paragraph 35: The Petitioners aver that in all the wards and polling units being CHALLENGED in this petition, the Respondents abandoned the procedural steps and merely produced results as the election known to law was not conducted in the wards and polling units in contention.
Paragraph 752: Your Petitioners say that after the deductions of all invalid and wrongly computed votes of the CANDIDATES as afore-pleaded, the APC polled a total of 130,696 valid votes and the PDP polled 150,672 valid votes.
Paragraph 754: WHEREFORE the Petitioners claims against the Respondents jointly and severally are as follows:
(i) That it may be determined that the 2nd Respondent, Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki, was not duly elected or returned by the majority of lawful votes cast at the Edo State Governorship held on the 28th day of September, 2016.
(ii) That it may be determined that the 1st Petitioner who was the candidate of the 2nd Petitioner scored the highest number of lawful votes cast at the election and satisfied the requirements of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended and the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.
(iii) That the 1st Petitioner be declared validly elected or returned , having scored the highest number of lawful votes cast at the Governorship Election held on the 28th day of September 2016.
From the above, it is obvious that at the end of it all, the votes from the units that will survive the hammer of the Tribunal added to the votes from the UNCHALLENGED Wards and units would be enough to declare Pastor Osagie Andrew Ize-Iyamu winner. This, coupled with the fact that he would have scored twenty five percent (25℅) in at least two-third (12) of the eighteen (18) local governments in the state would give the Tribunal no choice but to do the needful. And by the Grace of God, so shall it be.
Lest I forget, special thanks must go to the witnesses of Obaseki/APC for helping the Petitioners to demonstrate at the Tribunal the overwhelming documentary evidences tendered as exhibits.
As the clock gradually ticks towards the d-day, the beat as usual goes on.
Osaze Jesuorobo
