The Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has adjourned proceedings to Monday, February 10, allowing the Edo State Governor, Monday Okphebholo, to open his case. This decision came after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to present its witnesses, who were scheduled to testify starting Thursday, February 6.
During the proceedings on Thursday, INEC’s lead counsel, Kanu Agabi, SAN, informed the three-member panel, led by Justice Wilfred Okpochi, that they would not be calling any witnesses, having reconsidered their approach after Wednesday’s session. Agabi stated that there was no longer a need to present witnesses.
On Wednesday, INEC requested an adjournment to Thursday to ensure the presence of witnesses, many of whom were reportedly traveling from Benin, Edo State. The commission had initially lined up five witnesses to defend the declaration of Monday Okphebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the September 21, 2024, Edo State governorship election. INEC had announced that Okphebholo received 291,667 votes, defeating the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asuerime Ighodalo, who garnered 247,655 votes.
Dissatisfied with INEC’s declaration, the PDP and Ighodalo have taken legal action against INEC, Okphebholo, and the APC, naming them as the first to third respondents, respectively. The petitioners allege that the election was marred by violations of the Electoral Act, citing instances of overvoting and discrepancies in figures at collation centers.
On February 5, INEC submitted key electoral documents as evidence, which included a certified true copy of the Form EC8D result, a document outlining the election result declaration, and a copy of the regulations and guidelines for conducting elections. Additionally, a senior technical officer from INEC’s ICT Department, Anthony Itodo, presented Biometric Voter Accreditation Machines as evidence to support allegations of multiple incidents of overvoting during the Edo election, under a subpoena from the petitioners.
At the resumed hearing of the petition marked EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, Agabi further informed the tribunal that they would rely on the information gathered during the cross-examination of the petitioners’ witnesses and moved to close their case. He stated, “My Lords, after we left you yesterday, we gave more thought to the matter and concluded that the sensible thing to do is to close the case of the first respondent.”
In response, the petitioners’ counsel, Adetunji Oyeyipo, SAN, expressed that they were not surprised by INEC’s decision and would not object to it. Counsel for Okphebholo and the APC, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, and D. C. Dewigwe, also did not oppose INEC’s submission.
Ikpeazu subsequently made an oral application to the court for an adjournment to prepare their witnesses for the case. He explained, “My Lord, we apply for a date to enable us to open our case. If I had been mindful, I thought we would use the next three days to address the first respondent’s (INEC) witnesses. I have not yet arranged for the witnesses to be present. I am appealing for maybe next week.”
The panel granted the request and adjourned the proceedings to February 10 for the second respondent to open their case.
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