By Kolawole Ojebisi
The Edo governorship election tribunal has said that it will deliver judgement on the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the outcome of the the state’s gubernatorial election on April 2.
The governorship election was held in the state on September 21, 2024.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Monday Okpebholo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as winner of the election.
Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Asue Ighodalo of the PDP, who got 247,274 votes.Olumide Akpata, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), polled a distant third with 22,763 votes.
But in a swift reaction, Ighodalo and PDP rejected the outcome of the election and headed to the tribunal.
The petitioners had told the court that the governorship election was invalid because of alleged non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
The petitioners prayed the court to nullify the declaration of Okpebholo as winner on the basis that the election was allegedly marred by irregularities.
However, Okpebholo and the APC had asked the court to dismiss the petition because the petitioners did not substantiate the allegations.
In January, the tribunal relocated from Benin City to Abuja, following a shooting incident near the court’s premises.
During the hearing, the tribunal admitted in evidence 148 bimodal voter accreditation system machines (BVAS) used for the election.
The electronic devices were tendered by a senior technical officer in the ICT department of INEC, Anthony Itodo, and admitted in evidence by the panel.
On March 3, a three-member tribunal headed by Wilfred Kpochi, reserved judgment in the petition after parties adopted their final written addresses.
The tribunal will, however, on Wednesday deliver judgment on the three petitions marked: EPT/ED/GOV/01/2024, EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024 and EPT/ED/GOV/03/2024.
