By DADA AYOKHAI
The National/House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Benin has dismissed the petition filed by Hon Kabiru Adjoto seeking to upturned the victory of Hon Peter Akpatason as the winner of the Akoko- Edo Federal Constituency.
Hon Adjoto, a former Speaker of the Edo state House of Assembly contested for the Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency seat on the platform of the Peoples Democratic party PDP and lost to Hon Peter Akpatason of All Progressives Congress (APC).
The judgment was delivered by Justice Yusuf Mohammed-led three-man panel.
The tribunal dismissed the petition by Hon Adjoto and that of the Labour Party (LP) Candidate, Omobayo Godwin, for lacking in merit and incompetent.
The Tribunal said that it could not make a case for the petitioner.
It said that the onus of proof lied on the petitioner and that the court must not rely on the admissions of the respondents, as the petitioner did not discharge the burden of proof as required by the law, hence, the petition was dismissed.
The tribunal held that the petitioner failed woefully to prove that the 3rd respondent (Independent National Electoral Commission) unlawfully declared Akpatason as the winner of the election.
INEC had declared Akpatason as the winner of the election with 14, 982 votes,
Dissatisfied with the declaration,the PDP candidate approached the tribunal to challenge the return of Akpatason on the grounds of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 and others.
