The Edo State Governorship Election Tribunal made headlines on Thursday by admitting a series of new documents as evidence, as four additional witnesses from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took the stand, alleging significant irregularities in polling units across Esan North East, Oredo, Esan South East, and Esan Central Local Government Areas during the 2024 governorship election.
This latest development has brought the total number of PDP witnesses to ten in their ongoing petition against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), challenging the declaration of Senator Monday Okpebholo as the winner of the election.
During the resumed hearing of Petition EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, Mr. Igbarase Matthias, the PDP’s Collation Agent for Esan North East, urged the tribunal to accept his witness statement, which was sworn on October 11, 2024. Matthias claimed that over-voting occurred in nine polling units within his jurisdiction, citing exhibits PCB 40 to PCB 48 of Form EC25B series.
“I based my sworn statement on certified true copies of INEC’s Voters Register, Forms EC25B, EC8A, the INEC election manual booklet, screenshots of IREV copies of Form EC8A, BIVAS accreditation reports, and extracts from Form EC8C, after thorough personal examination,” he stated.
Matthias presented certified true copies of results sheets from INEC, duplicate polling unit results sheets of Form EC8A, and his party agent card as evidence. He specifically highlighted over-voting in polling unit 011, asserting, “I am aware that the uploading of results into the IREV occurs at the polling unit level.”
Under cross-examination by INEC’s lead counsel, Kanu Agabi, Matthias acknowledged, “As LGA agent for my party, I did not handle the BIVAS during the election.” He also noted that PDP unit and ward agents had signed the election result sheets, admitting, “I did not function as a unit or ward agent for my party during the election.”
Aigbe Ighodaro Lucky, the PDP agent for Oredo Local Government Area, testified that over-voting occurred in 66 polling units in his area, alleging that INEC recorded incorrect scores in favor of the APC. He declared, “I relied on INEC documents to support my sworn statement and adopted the same as evidence in this petition.”
Ighodaro further stated, “There were no prior recordings of serial numbers of sensitive materials deployed in the local government in INEC’s Form EC25B.” During cross-examination, he admitted, “I did not examine any BIVAS machine used during the election throughout my duties as PDP local government area collation agent in Oredo, but I reviewed the documents provided by my party.”
Another witness, Adekunle Oboh, the PDP’s Collation Agent for Esan Central Local Government Area, testified about irregularities in 23 polling units, stating, “There were no prior recordings of serial numbers of sensitive materials deployed to some polling units in Form EC25B.” He confirmed that polling unit result sheets had been signed by PDP agents up to the ward level before he endorsed Form EC8C, adding, “All Forms EC8A (result sheets) were counter-signed by INEC presiding officers.”
Similarly, Wilson Ibhawa, the PDP’s Collation Agent for Esan South East, alleged irregularities in five polling units, stating, “There were no prior recordings of serial numbers of sensitive materials used in the election in Form EC25B.”
While the respondents’ counsel objected to the admissibility of the documents presented by the witnesses, they reserved their reasons for later arguments. Justice Wilfred Kpochi, the Chairman of the Tribunal, provisionally admitted the documents into evidence, pending further discussions from the respondents’ legal team.
The hearing has been adjourned to Friday, January 24, 2025, for further proceedings.
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