Loud Whispers

The Edo State chapter of the People’s Democrat­ic Party (PDP) will to­day challenge the decision of the Election Petitions Tribu­nal on the recounting of the ballot papers used for the Sep­tember 28 governorship elec­tion at the Court of Appeal.

The tribunal had refused the PDP more time to count the ballot papers from Akoko-Edo, Owan West, Owan East and Egor Local Government Areas used for the 2016 elec­tion.

In an interview on Monday, the state PDP Chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, said that since the tribunal gave the or­der for the ballot papers to be recounted, the time allotted should differ from the origi­nal period they were given to present their candidate.

Orbih said that the PDP is going to the Court of Ap­peal so that the remaining bal­lot papers can be counted and recorded by the tribunal.

He said: “We feel strong­ly that since the court ordered the recounting of the ballot papers, it was necessary for the court to see to the execu­tion of that order that it gave.

“You will recall that they ordered the recounting of the ballot papers in the four local governments, but midway it was stopped and they entered the results of the area we had not counted”.

“Our legal team are of the view that that time ought not to be part of the presentation because what was being done was the execution of the order of the court.

“For us to dictum democ­racy and protect the decision, we felt that there was a legal action open to us to seek that prayer for the remaining bal­lot papers to be counted,” he said.

Orbih commended the PDP legal team for showing great interest and enthusiasm in pursuing the case to ensure that justice is done.

BREAKINGTIMES