The Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, upheld the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The tribunal, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel, said it found no reason to nullify the outcome of the governorship contest that held in the state on September 21, 2024.
Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Wilfred Kpochi, who delivered the lead judgement, dismissed as lacking in merit, a petition the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo, filed to challenge the declaration of governor Okpebholo as the valid winner of the gubernatorial poll.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared that Okpebholo of the APC secured a total of 291, 667 votes to defeat his closet rivalry, Ighodalo of the PDP, who got a total of 247, 655 votes.
Dissatisfied with the result, the PDP and its candidate approached the tribunal, alleging that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
In the petition marked: EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, it was alleged that governor Okpebholo did not secure the highest number of lawful votes that were cast at the election.
It was equally the contention of the petitioners that INEC failed to serialise and pre-record some of the sensitive materials that were deployed for the poll, a situation they said aided the rigging of the election in favour of the APC and its candidate.
Specifically, PDP and its candidate alleged that there was wrong computation of results in 765 polling units in the state, even as they produced 19 witnesses that testified and tendered exhibits before the tribunal.
Among exhibits the petitioners tendered before the tribunal, included a total of 153 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVA, machines that were used in 133 polling units.
According to the petitioners, results from the polling units were manipulated at the collation centers, a situation they said resulted in over-voting, in Okpebholo’s favour.
However, in its judgement on Wednesday, the tribunal held that the petitioners failed to by way of credible evidence, establish why the outcome of the election should be set-aside.
It held that the onus of proving that governor Okpebholo was unduly returned by INEC, rested squarely on the petitioners.
The panel said it was trite law that a petitioner must succeed on the strength of his own case and not on the weakness of the defence.
Discussion about this post