Tribunal Affirms Electoral Victory of Okpebholo as Edo Governor

The Edo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal has upheld the election of Senator Monday Okpebholo as the governor of Edo State.

In a unanimous judgment delivered on Wednesday night, the tribunal ruled that the petitioners, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its gubernatorial candidate, Asue Ighodalo, failed to prove their claims of over-voting in 320 polling units across the state’s 18 local government areas during the September 21, 2024 governorship election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election after he scored the highest number of votes.

The PDP and Ighodalo, however, sought to nullify Okpebholo’s victory, citing non-compliance with electoral laws and over-voting as the grounds for their petition.

Delivering the judgment, the three-member tribunal, led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, stated that the petitioners failed to prove their allegations of non-compliance with the electoral process. Justice Kpochi emphasized that the petitioners did not call relevant witnesses to testify about the alleged infractions, weakening their case.

Regarding the over-voting claims, the tribunal noted that the PDP and Ighodalo had presented 19 witnesses, including collation agents and a research expert, and submitted polling unit results, collation results, the BVAS, and other sensitive documents. However, the tribunal criticized the petitioners for not directly addressing the evidence presented, emphasizing that “documents do not speak for themselves.” Justice Kpochi further pointed out that it was not the tribunal’s responsibility to scrutinize the documents on behalf of the petitioners.

In conclusion, the tribunal affirmed Okpebholo’s victory, dismissing the petition for lack of sufficient evidence.