Bar. Ken Immasuagbon Congratulates Governor Obaseki as Tribunal Dismissed AA's Petition

Bar. Ken Immasuagbon has congratulated Governor Obaseki as the Tribunal sitting in Benin dismissed the Action Alliance petition challenging his victory in the last gubernatorial election held on 19th September, 2020. 

Addressing pressmen in Abuja, Bar. Ken Immasuagbon said, "I congratulate my brother and friend, Governor Godwin Obaseki on this Tribunal victory. I can assure him the mandate given to him by the good people of Edo State will stand and the state will see massive development in the course of his four years in office. 

"I had no doubt all these frivolous petitions filed by unknown candidates of these small parties are going to be mere academic journeys that will lead nowhere. None of these party, not even APC, has any single evidence that Godwin Obaseki of the PDP did not win the election. In law, when you accuse, when you petition, you must prove. The burden of proof is on you. The election was adjudged by even foreign observers as one of the freest elections ever conducted by INEC. People went to the polls to vote their consciences. So it was all a waste of time as well as resources to go to the Tribunal to challenge the will of the people. Let me tell you; this is one of the many victories that will be recorded by the governor. All of the suits in courts will fall like packs of cards.

"I want our brothers to drop all of these unnecessary suits, including our brothers in APC, join hands with the government of Governor Godwin Obaseki to move the state forward irrespective of party affiliations. The purpose, vision and ideal should be one: development. We have a duty to the state, not individuals or godfathers. These ideas of serving godfathers or individuals have since been discarded as being the bane of our development."

Earlier today, Justice Chukwudi Nwakwo delivered the ruling in the presence of the Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Abdulrazak Abdulkarem, and the third judge, Justice Joseph Ayua. 

In it's ruling, the Tribunal held that in the petition against the first and second respondents, the petitioners failed to file the pre-hearing notice. The Tribunal therefore concluded that the petitioners were deemed to have abandoned the petition and thereafter, dismissed the suit.