Tribunal Affirms Okowa’s Re-Election

The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba, the Delta state capital has upheld the election of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as the authentic winner of the March 9, 2019 governorship election.

The judgement of the tribunal comes after the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Great Ogboru had in a petition approached the tribunal to challenge the victory of Okowa at the poll.

Ogboru in had in his petition marked EPT/DT/GOV/01/2019, alleged that the election was marred with irregularities, over-voting and substantial non-compliance with the electoral act and guidelines.

Ogboru prayed the tribunal to nullify the election that saw the governor emerged as the winner and order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigeria’s electoral umpire to conduct a fresh exercise or have him declared as winner on the ground that he scored the majority of lawful votes cast during that exercise.

However, in his judgement, chairman of the three-man tribunal, Justice Sulaiman Belgore, dismissed Ogboru’s petition for lack of merit and affirmed Okowa as winner of that exercise.