Edo LG poll and the tribunal ruling.

THE Edo Local Government Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Benin City recently gave its ruling on the elections held on October 22, 2013, in Esan North East Local Government Area with different reactions trailing the ruling of that tribunal.

While the Tribunal upheld the election of eight out of eleven wards won by the All Progressives Congress, APC, it ruled in favour of  the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the other three wards. However, the tribunal ruled against the chairmanship result as announced by Edo State Independent Electoral Commission, the body recognized by law to conduct and announce the election result.

Interestingly, the tribunal ruled and ordered a re-run of the chairmanship election, not because the results so declared by the body were faulted, but on technicality that the results were announced in Benin City, the state capital and not in Uromi, headquarters of the Esan North East Local Government Area designated as the collection centre where it should have been announced as provided by the Electoral Act.