The Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has affirmed Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor of the state.
A three-member panel of the tribunal dismissed the suit filed by Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the outcome of the September 21, 2024, gubernatorial election in the state.
Delivering the unanimous decision, Justice Wilfred Kpochi dismissed the suit for lacking in merit.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Okpebholo as winner of election with 291,667 votes while his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), polled 247,655 votes.
Dissatisfied, the PDP and Ighodalo filed a petition at the tribunal, claiming the election was marred by irregularities, including over-voting, lack of ballot serialization, errors in collation, and miscalculations in results.
According to them, the results from the polling units were manipulated at the collation centers.
The petitioners urged the tribunal to nullify the Certificate of Return that was issued to governor Okpebholo and declare Ighodalo as the winner of the election.
The tribunal, in its judgement, held that the petitioners failed to prove allegations of electoral malpractice against INEC.
Justice Kpochi agreed with the defendants that the petitioners failed to present polling unit agents and presiding officers to prove it.
The tribunal held that the petitioners dumped documents on the tribunal without producing any competent witness to substantiate the claims of over-voting and electoral non-compliance.
“The failure of the petitioners in this case to call polling unit agents and registered voters is fatal to their case,” the judge said, highlighting that eyewitness accounts were required to prove electoral non-compliance.
The judge also faulted the petitioners for dumping the BVAS machines before the tribunal without calling competent witnesses to turn them on and demonstrate its claims of overvoting.
The tribunal subsequently dismissed the petitions for failing to prove its case against the governor’s election.
Meanwhile, the tribunal earlier dismissed two petitions filed by the Action Alliance (AA) and Accord Party against the Edo governorship poll for lack of merit.
UPDATED: Tribunal Affirms Okpebholo Edo Governor, Dismisses Ighodalo’s Suit is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
Source: The Whistler
