Okpebholo’s Tribunal Victory: Edo People Are Mourning – Ifaluyi-Isibor

Edo State former Commissioner for Digital Economy, Ogbeide Ifaluyi-Isibor, has faulted the governorship tribunal ruling that affirmed Governor Monday Okpebholo’s victory.

Naijaonpoint reports that Ifaluyi-Isibor said the people of Edo were thrown into mourning by the tribunal’s ruling.

Speaking with News Central on Thursday, the former Commission for Science and Technology, under former Governor Godwin Obaseki, stated that the tribunal failed to live up to the people’s expectation.

He added that the ruling subverted the will of the people, stating that the tribunal failed to uphold the Constitution and the Electoral Act.

His words: “Indeed it was (a surprise), because one would have thought that if truly Monday Okpebholo was duly elected by the Edo people, I mean, it’s almost 24 hours after, you would have seen jubilation, wild jubilation across the states, people celebrating the judgments as a reflection of their votes, but that’s not the case. Edo people are largely in mourning. The entire state is in agony, because the man who the tribunal has given the mandate to is not the one that the Edo people gave the mandate to.

“So, it is not pleasant to hear that the collective will of the people has been subverted by the judiciary, who they thought should have the imprimatur of the Constitution and the Electoral Act to do what is right, in this case, to determine the veracity of the claims we put forward in court, because we’re pretty simple.

“We had three main issues. One was the failure of INEC to do a prior recording of the quantity and serial number of sensitive election materials. Number two was overvoting in several polling units. And number three was the in correction of collation figures by INEC. And so, for all these cases, we have tendered documents given to us by INEC and certified by INEC, tendered them before the court. And gladly, I was happy to hear the judge or the chief judge, or the main judge in this case, claim that all the evidence tendered in court, documentary evidence, were certified by INEC and were admissible in court.”