Pastor
Osagie Iyze-Iyamu has appealed to the court to declare him winner of
the Edo State gubernatorial election held last year, 2016.
Osagie Ize-Iyamu
People's Democratic Party, PDP, candidate in the September 28, 2016
governorship election in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, yesterday,
testified in the petition he and his party filed against the
declaration of Mr. Godwin Obaseki of All Progressives Congress, APC, by
Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as the winner of the
election.
Pastor Ize-Iyamu Led in evidence by Mallam Yusuf Alli (SAN) leading
other legal practitioners for the petitioners, he reiterated his call
on the election petitions tribunal to declare him the rightful winner of
the poll.
He claimed that the Second Respondent in the petition, Mr. Godwin
Obaseki, was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the
election even as he contended that Obaseki’s election was invalidated
for alleged non- compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act
2010, as amended. Ize-Iyamu also told the tribunal that the election of
the second respondent was invalid due to alleged corrupt practices.
The PDP candidate, who adopted his witness documents as his
testimony, told the Justice Ahmed Badamasi-led panel that he scored the
highest number of votes in the election which was held across 2,629
polling units in the state, saying,“I want the tribunal to declare me as the winner of the election, having scored the majority votes.”
He said though he was sure about the number of polling units where
Obaseki was declared winner, he did not challenge the outcome of the
poll based on all the 2,629 polling units.
According to him, most of his depositions at the tribunal were
based on documents concerning what he saw on the result sheets and voter
registers provided by INEC and pursuant to the order of the tribunal.
When cross examined by counsel to Obaseki, Ken Mozia (SAN), Iyze-Iyamu
told the tribunal that he was in his unit throughout the election just
as he said his claims in his petition could not be described as false as
he could not remember all the polling units in the 18 local government
areas of the state.
However, another witness called by the petitioners, one Anthony
Lawani, told the tribunal during cross-examination, that there was an
alleged incident of over-voting in one of the wards in Akoko-Edo Local
Government Area. Lawani, who said that he was a polling agent, claimed
that he was in his unit from the beginning to the end of voting.
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