By Olaitan Ibrahim
The Edo Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Wednesday affirmed the victory of Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Sept. 21, 2024 governorship election.
The three-member tribunal headed by Justice Wilfred Kpochi also dismissed the the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, against .
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC had declared Sen. Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the election with a total of 291, 667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ighodalo of the PDP, who got a total of 247, 655 votes.
However, the PDP and Ighodalo had filed petition at the tribunal to challenge the INEC’S declaration.
In their petitions, the PDP and its candidate asked the tribunal to nullify INEC’s declaration of the APC and Monday Okpebholo as winners of the election.
The petitioners, among other things, contended that the governorship election was invalid because of alleged non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
However, APC and Okpebholo urged the tribunal to dismiss the petitions for being baseless, arguing that the petitioners had failed to substantiate the allegations in their petitions.
They alleged that the election was marred by irregularities.
The tribuna had, on March 3, reserved judgment in the petition after parties adopted their final written addresses.
The tribunal had, on Jan. 31, admitted in evidence, 148 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System Machines (BVAS) that were used during the conduct of the disputed governorship poll.
The electronic devices were tendered by a Senior Technical Officer in the ICT Department of INEC, Anthony Itodo, and admitted in evidence by the panel.
The petitioners had subpoenaed INEC to produce the BVAS machines that were used in 133 polling units where election results are being disputed.