With palpable tension, Nigerians wait for the judgement of the Federal High Court Abuja brought by the All Progressives Congress and its candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu and others.
The case is a pre-election matter challenging the competence of Mr. Godwin Obaseki and the Peoples Democratic Party to vie in the last governorship election in Edo State.
However, there are legal predictions that Obaseki and his party will return victorious as the entire suit has been discribed as exercise in futility.
A Senior Advocate and legal analyst with Midwest Herald Community newspaper explained that as long as the complaints of the plaintiffs didn’t give Obaseki and PDP any advantage to contest and secure victory, it will by a complete misplacement of justice to upturn Obaseki’s victory.
He cited cases, including Ben Ayade’s perjury of two different dates of birth, 1967 and 1970. He explained that the supreme court ruled that as long as both dates sufficiently satisfied the constitutional requirement, the issue of different dates in affidavits wasn’t enough to invalidate his electoral victory.
He also pointed to the celebrated perjury case of the notorious Salisu Abrahim from Kano State who contested and won the House of Representatives and went ahead to become the Speaker of House of Representatives. His opponent challenged his victory on the ground that he was 28 years instead of the 36 years that Salisu filled in his INEC form and his sworn affidavit. Salisu was disqualified because 28 years fell short of the constitutional requirement for the office of house of representatives.