PDP, Asue Ighodalo Close Case At Edo Governorship Election Tribunal
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, have formally closed their case before the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, after presenting 19 witnesses to support their petition.
The PDP and Ighodalo are challenging the victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the September 21, 2024 gubernatorial election. They claim the election results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were flawed.
At the resumed hearing, the petitioners’ lead counsel, Mr. Robert Emukpoeruo, SAN, informed the three-member tribunal panel, chaired by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, that the petitioners had concluded their case.
This development followed INEC’s presentation of five additional Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines used during the election. The devices were tendered as evidence by Mr. Anthony Itodo, a Senior Technical Officer from INEC’s ICT Department. Despite objections from the respondents, the tribunal admitted the BVAS machines as evidence, with the opposing parties reserving their arguments for their final written addresses.
Previously, the tribunal had also admitted 148 BVAS machines from 133 disputed polling units, where the PDP contests the election results.
The tribunal has now scheduled the next session for INEC to open its defence tomorrow.
According to INEC’s official results, Okpebholo of the APC secured 291,667 votes, defeating his closest rival, Ighodalo of the PDP, who garnered 247,655 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, the PDP and Ighodalo petitioned the tribunal, seeking to nullify INEC’s declaration of Okpebholo as the winner. In their petition, marked EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, they argue that the election was invalid due to non-compliance with the Electoral Act and claim that Okpebholo did not win the majority of lawful votes cast during the election.
