2023: Obaseki loses out again to Orbih group

The Edo State division of the Court of Appeal has thrown out the list of aspirants for political offices aligned with Governor Godwin Obaseki in favour of candidates belonging to the Legacy PDP Group led by the National Vice Chairman of the party, Chief Dan Orbih.

The judgment which was delivered on Friday automatically means only aspirants who emerged from the primary election conducted by Orbih’s group will stand for elective positions in the 2023 general elections.

The court also struck out an earlier suit which declared the Obaseki’s group candidates as the authentic candidates of the PDP because of the incomplete transmission of records that made the court not to have jurisdiction over the appeal.

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The battle for control of the party apparatus in the state between Obaseki and Orbih took a different dimension when the two groups presented two different list of aspirants to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), following parallel primaries held by the two factions.

When the case first came up for hearing at the state high court, the Obaseki faction got a favorable judgment which removed the candidates of the Orbih faction which then headed for the Appeal Court in Benin.

In the judgment delivered by Tunde Oyebamiji Awotoye, the president of the court resolved four out of the six issues in favour of the Legacy Group candidates and declared that their appeal was meritorious and therefore allowed.

The latest decision seemingly confirms Orbih as being in control of the Edo State chapter of the PDP.