The Edo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal has dismissed the second petition filed against the declaration of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Monday Okpebholo, as winner of the 2024 gubernatorial poll in Edo State.
The Tribunal, sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, dismissed the petition instituted by the Accord Party (A) on so many grounds.
In the judgment, the Tribunal held that the Accord Party and its governorship candidate in the election, Dr Bright Enabulele, made spurious and wild weight allegations of thuggery ballot stuffing, harassment and molestation of voters, but failed to name a single perpetrator of the offence.
The Tribunal held that two petitioners were so inconsistent in their claims with allegations of non-compliance with the Electoral Act and calling for nullification of the poll on one hand.
On the other hand, the Tribunal said the same petitioners sought to be declared winners of the election they claimed to have been conducted without compliance with the Electoral Act.
In the final analysis, the Tribunal held that there was no meaningful evidence for it to act upon to nullify the election of Okpebholo and APC and subsequently dismissed the petition in its entirety.
The Tribunal also affirmed the election of Okpebholo for being valid, conducted in compliance with the law and properly declared as winnermby the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
With the latest judgement, Governor Monday Okpebholo and the APC have won the second victory in the series of the peitions challenging their declaration as winner of the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo State.
LEADERSHIP reports that INEC had declared Okpebholo of the APC as winner with 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 247,655 votes in the election.
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