Sam Philip
The 3-man Edo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting at the National Judicial Institute Abuja, has in a unanimous judgement on Wednesday upheld the election of All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the September 21, 2024 gubernatorial election in Edo State, Monday Okpebholo.
The tribunal dismissed three separate petitions filed by Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP), and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the declaration of Okpebholo as the winner of the election by Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC).
The petitioners had called for the annulment of the election results,the chairman of the panel, Justice Wilfred Kpochi, in a lead judgment, upheld that the election results, saying the election was validly conducted.
The ruled that the petitioners failed to prove the allegation of over-voting as they also failed to call relevant witnesses and tender the voter’s register, BVAS and EC8A used during the election as demanded by law.
Justice Kpochi in the judgement further held that no eye witnesses were called to give evidence on the alleged over-voting.
Consequently, the tribunal turned down the prayer of the petitioners that INEC be ordered to conduct a fresh governorship election in the state.
It would be recalled that INEC had declared Okpebholo, candidate of APC winner of the election having polled 291, 667 votes against 247,667 votes polled by the closest candidate, Asue Ighodalo, candidate of PDP.