Tribunal Affirms Okowa's Victory, Dismissed Ogboru's Petition

The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in Asaba, the Delta State capital, on Friday validated the victory of Governor Arthur  Ifeanyi Okowa of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in the last March 9 governorship election in the State.

Okowa's victory was challenged by Great Ogboru and his party; the  All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Sulaiman Belgore in his judgment delivered  in Asaba, struck out all the grounds of the petition, premising the reason for the dismissal on the petitioners did not proven their case beyond reasonable doubts as required by law.

"The petition was badly drafted, devoid of details and insufficient data. The case of the petitioner remains unproven,” he said

Belgore held that due to insufficient data provided  by  the petitioner's counsel, it is wrong to contest that  Okowa did not have a majority of lawful votes cast  in the 2019 Governorship poll.

He added: “Of the 896 polling units in which over voting was recorded, the petitioner only brought five party agents as witnesses as other 15 witnesses were ward or collation agents."

From Mariam Yomi, Asaba