Election Tribunal Sacks Edo APC Lawmaker For Not Been Duly Nominated ByThe Party.

The Edo State Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Benin today upturned the election of the All Progressives Congress candidate, Yakubu Gowon, as the lawmaker representing Etsako West II Constituency in the Edo State House of Assembly, replacing him with PDP’s Sylvanus .

Gowon was declared the winner of the April 11 state assembly poll and returned elected to represent the constituency by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

However, in the judgment, Justice E. Abuua held that his party, APC, did not duly nominate Gowon.

The tribunal explained that the APC’s notice of intention to hold party primaries, which he sent to INEC, was less than the mandatory 21 days, saying notice was given on November 13, 2014, while the primaries was conducted on December 1, 2014.

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

The State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Godwin Erhahon, said all the candidates of the party were duly nominated, adding that the party’s legal team would look into the judgement.

“We will leave the turnout for our legal teams, for now we do not have the details”

“All our candidates were duly nominated. So whatever somebody at that level may have adduced is left for our lawyers to look into.

“I cannot comment authoritatively because I do not have the details.”

Meanwhile, the State Chairman of the PDP, Dan Orbih, described the decision of the tribunal, as a “sweet victory” for the party, which he said, would keep “hope alive for the people.”