The Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has scheduled April 2, 2025, for the ruling on the petition challenging the results of the September 21, 2024, governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced Monday Okpebholo from the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner, defeating Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP).
Ighodalo and the PDP had filed a petition contesting Okpebholo’s victory, alleging electoral irregularities such as over-voting, issues with ballot serialization, and errors in the collation and computation of votes.
The tribunal had earlier reserved its judgment after hearing the case.
The petitioners presented 19 witnesses and brought a senior officer from INEC’s ICT department, who showed 154 BVAS machines as evidence of over-voting.
In response, Okpebholo and the APC offered one and four witnesses, respectively, with no witnesses called by INEC to counter the claims.
The tribunal panel, led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, announced that the date for judgment will be communicated to all parties involved.
Counsel for the petitioners, Adetunji Oyeyipo (SAN), and the APC’s counsel, Emmanuel Ukala, made their final submissions. INEC’s counsel, Kanu Agabi (SAN), urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition, stating it lacked merit.
He argued that the petitioners failed to present sufficient evidence and that the number of polling units in question was too small to invalidate the election.
On behalf of the governor, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) supported the legitimacy of Okpebholo’s victory, challenging the petitioners’ allegations of non-serialization and over-voting.
He noted that no BVAS machines were verified during the tribunal sessions.
The petitioners’ counsel, Ken Morzi (SAN), countered by clarifying that their complaints were focused on 765 polling units.
He emphasized that the case should not be dismissed based solely on the number of units challenged, arguing that the irregularities were serious enough to impact the overall election results.
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