A purported copy of the judgment by the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has surfaced online just a day after the tribunal summoned parties involved in the case to appear before it.
This follows a March 3, 2025, ruling where the three-member panel, led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, had reserved its judgment in the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, challenging the outcome of the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo.
The Tribunal had informed all parties in the petition that judgement would be delivered Wednesday.
Nigeria’s Vanguard newspaper however reported that what appeared to be a leak of the judgment documents had surfaced online, revealing a split decision of the Tribunal.
The documents show a two-to-one split in the Tribunal’s ruling, with Justice Kpochi and Justice A.B. Yusuf dismissing the petition, while Justice A.A. Adewole issued a minority judgment that ordered the issuance of a fresh Certificate of Return to Ighodalo of the PDP as the legitimate winner of the election.
According to the leaked document of the minority judgment, Justice Adewole argued that Governor Monday Okpebholo’s election was invalid due to non-substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act.
Justice Adewole noted that the Petitioners, Asue Ighodalo and the PDP, had shown evidence that the total votes should have been 243,113 for Ighodalo, with Okpebholo’s tally standing at 210,326, which would have reversed the election outcome.
“The Petitioners’ case was not rebutted, and they 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 quoted in the leaked documents.
On the other hand, the Tribunal’s Chairman, Justice Kpochi, in the majority ruling, acknowledged that there was credible evidence of non-compliance, particularly regarding issues like failure to record serial numbers in EC 25B forms and over-voting.
He, however found that the Petitioners failed to prove that these violations had substantially impacted the election result.
According to Justice Kpochi, while there were instances of incorrect collation and exclusion of results, the Petitioners did not provide enough mathematical or documentary evidence to demonstrate that the margin of victory was affected or that they had scored the highest number of lawful votes.
“The Petitioners have not discharged the dual burden to the satisfaction of the law. Accordingly, the petition lacks merit and is hereby dismissed,” the majority judgment read.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Governor Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the election, with 291,667 votes, defeating his closest rival, Ighodalo of the PDP, who secured 247,655 votes.
Not satisfied with the outcome, Ighodalo and the PDP approached the Tribunal, arguing that the election was marred by non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022.
The Petitioners contended that INEC failed to properly serialize and pre-record certain sensitive materials used in the election, which they argued contributed to alleged rigging in favor of the APC and its candidate.
The petition marked EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, which questioned the legitimacy of Okpebholo’s victory, claimed that he did not secure the highest number of lawful votes in the election.
NaijaNews
