The Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, based in Abuja, rejected a request to overturn the election results of Governor Monday Okpebholo from the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday.
In a unanimous ruling, the three-member tribunal panel, chaired by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, also refused to instruct the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a new gubernatorial election in Edo State.
The tribunal determined that the request from the Accord Party (AP) and its candidate could not be granted because the petitioners did not meet the legal burden of proof required.
While dismissing the petition for being inadequate, the panel pointed out that although the petitioners claimed that the gubernatorial election held on September 21, 2024, was flawed due to corrupt practices and violations of the Electoral Act, they failed to provide reliable evidence to support these claims.
The tribunal stated that the petitioners made “general and sweeping allegations” regarding the election results but did not specify particular polling locations or wards where the purported rigging and non-compliance occurred. The tribunal categorized some of the assertions as “vague” and found the allegations against Okpebholo’s victory to be unsubstantiated.
The tribunal acknowledged that all preliminary objections raised against the petition were valid. It is noteworthy that INEC had previously announced Okpebholo as the winner with 291,667 votes, surpassing his closest rival, Ighodalo of the PDP, who garnered 247,655 votes, while the AP candidate received only 252 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, the AP and its candidate submitted the petition, claiming that the election was plagued by significant irregularities, including multiple thumbprints, violence, intimidation, harassment of voters, and the alleged failure to utilize the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) at various polling stations.
The Kochi-led panel concluded that the petition did not present any sufficient legal basis. Previously, another petition from the Action Alliance (AA) seeking to annul Governor Okpebholo’s election had also been dismissed.
With those two cases resolved, the panel is now set to rule on the joint petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo, seeking to be declared the rightful winners of the contested election.
