The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, have formally closed their case before the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal. This comes after presenting evidence from 19 witnesses, who testified in support of their challenge against the victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the September 21, 2024, gubernatorial election.
During the court proceedings, the petitioners, represented by their lead counsel, Mr. Robert Emukpoeruo, SAN, informed the three-member panel led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi that they had completed presenting their case.
The move followed the presentation of additional evidence by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which submitted five more Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines used in the election.
These electronic devices were tendered into evidence by Mr. Anthony Itodo, a Senior Technical Officer at INEC’s ICT Department. While the respondents in the case raised objections to the BVAS, they noted that they would provide their reasons for opposing the evidence in their final written addresses.
Earlier, the tribunal had accepted a total of 148 BVAS from 133 polling units, which the PDP claims had discrepancies in their results. The PDP’s petition against the election results focuses on allegations of non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, which the party argues made the election invalid.
The tribunal has set tomorrow as the date for INEC to begin presenting its defense.
In the election, INEC declared that Okpebholo of the APC won with 291,667 votes, defeating Ighodalo, who garnered 247,655 votes. Following this result, the PDP and Ighodalo filed a petition before the tribunal, seeking to overturn the declaration of Okpebholo as the winner of the election. The petitioners are asking the tribunal to nullify the outcome, claiming that the election was marred by various irregularities.
