Edo Guber: Anxiety As Tribunal Delivers Judgement Today

Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal is to deliver judgement today on the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, against the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo.

The governorship election in the state was held on September 21, 2024.

The PDP and Ighodalo had gone to the tribunal to challenge the declaration of Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress as the winner of the poll.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared that Okpebholo of the APC secured a total of 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ighodalo of the PDP, who had a total of 247,655 votes.

But not satisfied with the outcome of the poll, the PDP and its candidate approached the tribunal, praying it to nullify INEC’s declaration of Okpebholo as winners of the contest.

The petitioners, among other things, contended that the governorship election was not valid, over alleged non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

On the contrary, APC and Okpebholo advised the tribunal to dismiss the petitions for being baseless.

They argued that the petitioners had failed to substantiate the allegations in their petitions.

The three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, had on March 3 reserved judgment in the petition after parties adopted their final written addresses.