[caption id="attachment_30695" align="alignnone" width="400"] Governor Ifeanyi Okowa: survives[/caption] Delta state Governorship Elections Petition Tribunal has dismissed the suits challenging the validity of the governorship election on 11 April, affirming instead the election of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa. The tribunal headed by Justice Nasir Gunmi gave the ruling in Asaba today, amidst accusations that Okowa's supporters already knew what was coming and were jubilating on Sunday. Candidates of the Labour Party, Great Ogboru and that of APC, O'tega Emerhor, had approached the Tribunal, challenging the declaration of Okowa of the PDP, as duly elected by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Their petitions were thrown out by the three-man panel for their failure to prove the allegations of corruption and substantial breach of the Electoral Act and electoral guidelines Besides, the tribunal awarded a cost of N150,000.00 each against the petitioners which they are to pay to Okowa, PDP and INEC as respondents. INEC had declared Okowa as winner, having scored the majority vote cast of 724,680 to defeat Great Ogboru of Labour Party who polled 130,028 votes and O'tega Emerhor of the All Progressive Congress (APC) who scored 67,825 votes. Following the declaration of Okowa as winner, Ogboru and Emerhor approached the Tribunal, alleging that the election was conducted in substantial breach of the Electoral Act and guidelines for the election, as well as corrupt practices. In their separate judgements in the petitions delivered by Justice Nasir Gunmi, chairman of the tribunal averred that the petitioners failed to prove allegations of corrupt practices, breach of Electoral Act, over voting and manipulation of election result. He said there was no credible evidence provided by the petitioners to support the allegations and held that the petition "is bound to fail, and has failed. It is hereby dismissed. The petitioners are to pay cost of N50,000 each to the three set of respondents." Also ruling on Emerhor's petition which was marked EPT/DT/GOV/32/2015, the Tribunal held that the petitioners relied heavily on the use of card reader as basis for nullifying the election result. But the Tribunal held that the petitioners were unable to prove that the first respondent (Okowa) was credited with alleged toxic votes, and added that the petitioners were also unable to discharge the burden of proof placed on their shoulders by the provisions of Sections 136 and 137 of the Evidence Act. "The petitioners having not proved the toxic votes credited to the first respondent, the issue of whether the first respondent was returned by valid votes becomes a non issue. "The concomitance of the conclusion by the tribunal is that this petition is without merit, it is bound to fail, and it failed. It is hereby dismissed. "It follows that the election and return of the first respondent as the duly elected governor of Delta State is affirmed. The three sets of respondent are entitled to N50,000.00 each as cost of prosecuting the petition," the tribunal held. Chairman of Labour Party in the State, Tony Ezeagwu, in his reaction, described the judgement as "unexpected." He said the party will appeal against it. Meanwhile, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Ovwigho Igbuya, has congratulated Governor Ifeanyi Okowa over his victory at the Tribunal. Igbuya who praised the judiciary for remaining the protector of the oppressed, described the 11 April, 2015 governorship election as the fairest and freest in the history of the state. A press statement issued in Asaba by the Chief Press Secretary, the Speaker, Henry Ebireri, reads: "Your victory at the Tribunal shows that the people of Delta State clearly authorized your candidature. It also shows that the judiciary is the last hope of the common man." He enjoined candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Labour Party, O’tega Emerhor and Great Ogboru respectively, to support Governor Okowa in transforming the state, adding, "There is no victor, no vanquished." *Reported by Jethro Ibileke