Edo Tribunal Upholds Governor Okpebholo’s Victory, Dismisses PDP’s Petition

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The Edo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja, on Wednesday, affirmed Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor of Edo State.

A three-member panel, led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, dismissed the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, challenging the outcome of the September 21, 2024, governorship election.

In its ruling, the tribunal held that Ighodalo and the PDP failed to provide credible witnesses or sufficient evidence to substantiate their claims of electoral irregularities. Justice Kpochi, delivering the lead judgment, emphasized that allegations of non-compliance with the Electoral Act must be convincingly proven.

The tribunal noted that the petitioners did not call key witnesses such as polling unit officers, presiding officers, or voters to support their case. Instead, most of the PDP’s 19 witnesses relied on hearsay evidence.

Justice Kpochi also criticized the PDP’s reliance on Section 137 of the Electoral Act to submit documents without proper scrutiny, stating that it was not the tribunal’s duty to analyze unverified materials. Additionally, the tribunal ruled that the BVAS machines presented by the petitioners were irrelevant since no data was extracted from them.

The panel unanimously reaffirmed that to prove overvoting—as alleged by the PDP—the petitioners needed to present the voters’ register, BVAS machine data, and polling unit results (Forms EC8A).

With the petition dismissed for lacking merit, the tribunal upheld the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s declaration of Okpebholo as the winner with 291,667 votes, against Ighodalo’s 247,655 votes.

The PDP had contested the results from 765 polling units across Edo State, alleging non-compliance with the Electoral Act, improper vote computation, non-serialization of electoral materials, and overvoting. However, the tribunal found these claims unsubstantiated.