On Wednesday, the Abuja-based Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal refused to declare the election of All Progressives Congress (APC) Governor Monday Okpebholo invalid.
A three-member tribunal bench headed by Justice Wilfred Kpochi unanimously declined to mandate that the
Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, hold a new Edo state governorship election.The tribunal said
that the prayer, which was part of a petition submitted to it by the state’s Accord Party, AP, and its gubernatorial
candidate, could not be granted because the petitioners had not met the legal burden of proof.
The petitioners claimed that the state’s September 21, 2024, governorship election was invalid due to corrupt
practices and non-compliance with the Electoral Act’s provisions, but they did not present any reliable evidence to
support their claims, the panel noted when dismissing the petition for incompetence.
The tribunal found that although the petitioners made “general and sweeping allegations” against the election’s
outcome, they did not provide specifics about the wards or polling places where the alleged widespread fraud and non-compliance took place.
Describing some of the averments in the petition as “vague”, the tribunal held that allegations against governor
Okpebholo’s victory were not substantiated.The first objections made to contest the petition’s competence were all
deemed to have validity, according to the tribunal.
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Recall that the AP candidate received 252 votes overall, while the Independent National Electoral Commission, or
INEC, announced that Okpebholo of the APC received 291,667 votes to defeat his bitter rival, Ighodalo of the PDP, who received 247,655 votes.
Dissatisfied with the result, AP and its candidate lodged the petition, insisting that the election was fraught with
manifest irregularities they said included multiple thumbprinting, violence, intimidation and harassment of voters, as
well as an alleged failure to use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines in various polling units in the state.
The Justice Kochi-led panel held that the petition did not disclose any reasonable cause of action.The tribunal had
earlier dismissed another petition the Action Alliance, AA, also filed to nullify governor Okpebholo’s election.
With the two cases gone, the panel is set to decide the joint petition the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its
candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo, filed to be declared the authentic winners of the disputed governorship contest.Key phrase : Edo Tribunal, Gov Okpebholo’s electionp
