1 day Ago By Our Correspondents
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Tribunal To Deliver Judgment Today There was confusion on Tuesday as alleged leaked copies of a yet-tobe-read judgment of the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Abuja, flooded the internet barely hours before judgment day. This is as barring any change, the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Abuja, has scheduled judgment for today in the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, in the September 21, 2024 gubernatorial election challenging the outcome of the poll. According to the judgment document making the rounds on the internet, the lead judgment dismissed the petition and affirmed the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo.
Recall that the Justice Wilfred Kpochi-led three-member tribunal had, on March 3, reserved its judgment on the case the PDP, and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, filed to challenge the outcome of the governorship poll. The panel had, in the early hours of Tuesday, directed the parties to appear before it on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, for the judgment. In what appeared as a leakage, copies of the judgment made their way into the internet, indicating a two-to-one split in the decision of the tribunal.
The leaked document showed that the chairman of the tribunal, Justice Kpochi, and a member of the tribunal, Justice A. B. Yusuf, dismissed the petition and affirmed the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo, while the third member of the panel, Justice A.
A. Adewole, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to issue a fresh Certificate of Return to Ighodalo of the PDP as the authentic winner of the poll. According to the minority judgment, Justice Adewole held that Governor Okpebholo’s election was invalid by reason of non-substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act.
He held that the 2nd respondent, Governor Okpebholo, was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast and proceeded to nullify his return as the winner of the gubernatorial contest. The petitioner’s case was not rebutted and showed, unit by unit, how the actual total should be 243,113 votes, while the 2nd respondent’s tally should stand at 210,326 votes — a clear reversal of the declared result, Justice Adewole was credited with having held in the leaked documents. However, in the lead and majority decision of the tribunal, its chairman, Justice Kpochi, held that “while there was credible evidence of non-compliance, particularly concerning section 73(2) (failure to record serial numbers in EC 25B) and section 51(2) (over-voting), the petitioners failed to demonstrate that these breaches substantially affected the outcome of the election as required under section 135(1) of the Electoral Act”.
On the issue of the majority of lawful votes, the petitioners established instances of incorrect collation and exclusion of results. However, their mathematical and documentary evidence did not conclusively establish that the margin of lead was overtaken or that they scored the highest number of lawful votes. The majority judgment relied on the strength of the Supreme Court’s decided cases in Oyetola vs.
Adeleke, 2023, 10 NWLR (Pt 1892), as well as Atiku vs. INEC (2023), 19 NWLR, pt. 1927.
The panel held that the petitioners failed to prove not only that non-compliance occurred but also that it was substantial enough to have affected the result of the election. “We find that the petitioners have not discharged the dual burden to the satisfaction of the law. “Accordingly, the petition lacks merit and is hereby dismissed,” the document further read.
Edo Guber: Tribunal To Deliver Judgment Today Barring any change, the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Abuja, has scheduled judgment for today in the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, in the September 21, 2024 gubernatorial election challenging the outcome of the poll. It was learnt on Tuesday that parties have since been notified through hearing notices. PDP and Ighodalo are, in their petition, querying the decision by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the election, which they claimed was marred by irregularities.
Lawyer to the petitioners, Ken Mozia (SAN), in his final submission, contended that his clients have successfully demonstrated electoral malpractices in 765 polling units out of 4,519 across the state. He noted discrepancies at various collation levels, where figures on Form EC8A (polling unit results) were allegedly reduced at the ward and local government collation stages (EC8B). The petitioners’ lawyer added that INEC certified all documents tendered by the petitioners, but failed to present any counter-evidence.
He said: “The issue is not about producing an alternative result, but about questioning the validity of the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal uploads.” Mozia argued that election petitions should be determined by the impact of irregularities on the process, not just the percentage of affected polling units. He then prayed the tribunal to grant all the reliefs in the petition, including the voiding of Okpebholo’s victory.
Lawyer to INEC, Kanu Agabi (SAN), argued that the petition lacked merit, arguing that the tribunal can not annul the election because that is not the relief sought by the petitioners. Agabi also argued that the tribunal cannot declare that the petitioners are the winners of the election in the light of their assertion that the election is invalid. He contended that the ground of non-compliance pleaded by the petitioners is not accompanied by the appropriate consequential relief which would have been for the annulment of the election, adding that that ground is incompetent.
Agabi argued that the number of polling unit agents invited as witnesses by the petitioners are insignificant to represent the number of polling units in Edo State. He claimed that the case of the petitioners is founded on analysis of documents and not what happened on the field on the date of the election. Lawyer to Okpebholo, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), described the petition as an “academic exercise,” arguing that the documents tendered by the petitioners, including Forms EC25B and EC40A were “dumped in the court” without proper demonstration of their relevance.
He urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition. Lawyer to the APC, Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), made similar arguments and prayed the tribunal to reject the petition..
