The Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Abuja, on Monday reversed judgment in the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the September 21, 2024 gubernatorial election held in the state, challenging the outcome of the election.
PDP and Ighodalo are, in their petition, querying the decision by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the election, which they claimed was marred by irregularities.
Shortly after lawyers to parties adopted their written addresses and made final submissions on Monday, the three-man tribunal, headed by Justice Wilfred Kpochi announced that the date for judgment would be communicated to them.
Lawyer to the petitioners, Ken Mozia (SAN), in his final submission, contended that his clients have successfully demonstrated electoral malpractices in 765 polling units out of 4,519 across the state.
He noted discrepancies at various collation levels, where figures on Form EC8A (polling unit results) were allegedly reduced at the ward and local government collation stages (EC8B). The petitioners’ lawyer added that INEC certified all documents tendered by the petitioners, but failed to present any counter-evidence.
He said: “The issue is not about producing an alternative result, but about questioning the validity of the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal uploads.”Mozia argued that election petitions should be determined by the impact of irregularities on the process, not just the percentage of affected polling units.
He then prayed the tribunal to grant all the reliefs in the petition, including the voiding of Okpebholo’s victory.
Lawyer to INEC, Kanu Agabi (SAN) argued that the petition lacked merit, arguing that the tribunal can not annul the election because that is not the relief sought by the petitioners
Agabi also argued that the tribunal cannot declare that the petitioners are the winners of the election in the light of their assertion that the election is invalid.
He contended that the ground of non-compliance pleaded by the petitioners is not accompanied by the appropriate consequential relief which would have been for the annulment of the election, adding that that ground is incompetent. Agabi argued that the number of polling unit agents invited as witnesses by the petitioners are insignificant to represent the number of polling units in Edo State.
He claimed that the case of the petitioners is founded on analysis of documents and not what happened on the field on the date of the election.
Lawyer to Okpebholo, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), described the petition as an “academic exercise,” arguing that the documents tendered by the petitioners, including Forms EC25B and EC40A were “dumped in the court” without proper demonstration of their relevance.Equally reacting, former APC National Chairman and ex-governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole said he was not convinced that the petitioners did enough to warrant the cancellation of the election.
Oshiomhole, who witnessed the tribunal’s proceedings on Monday, argued that “It is the duty of the petitioners to prove their allegations beyond doubt.
