Destiny Enabulele, the member of the Edo State House of Assembly for the Ovia South West constituency, has called Governor Monday Okpebholo’s triumph at the tribunal a betrayal of the will of the electorate.
Enabulele reportedly claimed that the tribunal’s decision crushed Nigerians’ faith in the judiciary as the working class’s best chance.
“The prayers before the tribunal were straightforward and easy to adjudicate,” the PDP lawmaker told News Central on Thursday.
“You see, I believe that what happened yesterday (Wednesday) was a rape on the collective will of the people, as do many Nigerians. If you have followed the entire tribunal journey, you concur with me that our plea was extremely straightforward. Just two main pillars contained it. It has to do with non-compliance or non-serialization. And the simple fact that it does not represent the majority of votes. What you witnessed yesterday, Wednesday, was a massive injustice. As a colleague, you will witness the lead judge, or the tribunal chairman, stating that this is a unanimous decision if you are present from the start.
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“I consider myself to be beyond 40, almost 50. The proceedings of courts and tribunals have been monitored by me. The court system is being ridiculed in a way I have never seen before,” he remarked.
The tribunal argued that the PDP and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, had not provided evidence to support their accusations, but Enabulele rejected this argument. That they disposed of the evidence without discussing or certifying to it was denied by him.
He said that the Electoral Act made it clear that oral testimony was not necessary for certified documents submitted as exhibits.
“I firmly disagree with him (the tribunal chairman).” since I’m a supporter of civic society. Unintentionally, I end up involved in politics.
You see what we did, if you look at section 137 of the Electoral Act, to be exact, which says—and I quote—that oral evidence is a secondary, not a necessary, problem if a petitioner makes a claim and has the supporting documentation. As a result, we made sure that the BVAS, IReV, and outcomes were certified true copies even after they were certified. He went on, “We have them in front of the court.”
