The Court of Appeal sitting in Benin City, Edo state on Friday dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu challenging the verdict of the Elections Petition Tribunal which upheld the election  Godwin Obaseki in last year’s gubernatorial elections in the state.

The appellants, through their 41 grounds of appeal had urged the court to hold that the tribunal judges had truncated their rights to fair hearing by “first finding faults, discrediting, disbelieving and dismissing their petition before considering it at all and reviewing the testimonies of the respondents’ witnesses and thus, occasioning a miscarriage of justice”.

However, the five-man sitting of the court led by Justice Dongban-Mensen, held that the PDP did not prove their case to warrant Obaseki’s nullification, adding that the Justice Ahmed Badamasi-led tribunal should be commended for delivering a thorough and detailed judgment.

“We considered all issues and at the end, we found that the decision of the tribunal as has been shown was unassailable. The tribunal carried out a painstaking, detailed and thorough dissipation of all aspects in the appellant’s case,” Justice Yusuf, a member of the panel said while delivering the verdict.

“Having resolved all the two issues, we found that the appellant’s appeal was rhetoric and the appeal is thereby demised,” she added.

Reacting to the judgment, Imariagbe Edewi and Chief Dan Orbih,  counsel to the PDP and Chairman of the party respectively said they were not satisfied with the ruling and hence will proceed to the Supreme Court.