Edo Election: How Court Judgment Affects Ize-Iyamu, Audu – Lawyer

Months after Godwin Obaseki won the Edo governorship election in 2020, the Court of Appeal sitting in Benin on Monday, quashed the judgment of an Edo State High Court which had disqualified Pastor Osagie Ize- Iyamu of the All-Progressive Congress and his running mate, Audu Ganiyu, from participating in the election.

A legal practitioner, Nelson Ilebor Kebordih, told THE WHISTLER on Monday that all hope was not lost for the political careers of the APC gubernatorial flagbearers, as the judgment implied that they could run for future elections.

Recall that the high court’s verdict of 6th January 2021, which had a spiral effect on the person of Ize-Iyamu, faulted his running mate for allegedly presenting false certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The APC contestant had approached the Appeal Court to vacate the judgement.

Delivering the verdict on Monday, the court said while the High Court’s judgement was out of time, the allegations of certificate forgery could not be proven.

Reacting to the development, Ilebor told our correspondent that the Appeal Court judgement had no bearing on the tenure of the current Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki.

“On a general note, ordinarily, the matter is a pre-election issue and being a pre-election issue, there is a time for holding and doing all of that but above all, the validity of Obaseki’s candidacy was not dependent on it,” he said.

He added that, “the election of Obaseki has in a sense been validated. From the judgement that was delivered early this year on the issue of the certificate by Judge A.R. Mohammed, it is to the effect that Obaseki was a valid candidate and he was qualified. As it stands now in the eyes of the law, everything about that election has come to an end, especially between APC and Peoples Democratic Party.

“Assuming APC was the one that won the election and the court now held that because of the defect in the candidacy of the running mate to Ize-Iyamu, there would have been an implication but that is not the issue,” he said.

He said that the good side of the verdict for the APC candidate was that in next elections, the matter of certificate inconsistency would not be raised against them.

“The issue now is that Obaseki won… the only thing that the judgement does to Gani and Ize-iyamu are only to the effect that in subsequent elections, this issue will now be deemed to have been rested – that the man has a validate certificate.

“As for the election that happened in September last year, it is over for every other person,” he said.

THE WHISTLER reported that the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had on January 9, dismissed the certificate forgery case filed against Obaseki, thereby affirming his election victory.