The Edo state governorship election petition tribunal has affirmed Monday Okpebholo as the duly elected governor of Edo. The tribunal, in three respective judgments, dismissed the petitions filed by the PDP, Action Alliance and Accord party.

The tribunal held that the People’s Democratic Party failed to call witnesses to prove its case of overvoting. The PDP according to the Tribunal failed to call polling unit agents from all the polling units where they had alleged electoral irregularities.

The tribunal added that out of the 19 witnesses called by the petitioners 14 of them were ward and local government agents and the star witness who claimed to be a director of strategy for the PDP played no role in the conduct of the election.

Today’s judgement deviated from the so-called leaked judgement which showed a division among the judges with two upholding the election and a dissenting judgement. The judges in their wisdom reasoned in the same way and were unanimous in their decision.

In an immediate reaction the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, have rejected the verdict of the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which upheld the victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the September 2024 election.

The PDP had challenged the declaration of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which showed that Okpebhole secured a total of 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ighodalo, who got a total of 247,655 votes.

In their judgment in Abuja on Wednesday, the tribunal led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi,refused to order INEC to conduct a fresh governorship election in Edo State as contained in the petition by the AP. The judges said the petitioners failed to discharge the burden of proof placed on them by the law.

According to the tribunal, while the petitioners made “general and sweeping allegations” against the outcome of the election, they failed to bring particulars of exact polling units or wards where the alleged widespread rigging and

The tribunal held that the prayer, which was contained in a petition that was brought before it by the PDP, the Accord Party, AP, and its gubernatorial candidate in the state, could not be granted as the petitioners failed to discharge the burden of proof placed on them by the law.

While striking out the petition for being incompetent, the panel noted that whereas the petitioners alleged that the governorship election held in the state on September 21, 2024, was invalid because of corrupt practices and non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, they, however, failed to adduce any credible evidence to establish the allegation.

Describing some of the averments in the petition as “vague”, the tribunal held that allegations against Governor Okpebholo’s victory were not substantiated.

The tribunal said it found merit in all the preliminary objections that were filed to challenge the competence of the petition.