The Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, says it will deliver judgment on Wednesday April 2, 2025, in the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, against the September 21, 2024, election.
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.
The Tribunal will deliver judgment in the three petitions marked: EPT/ED/GOV/01/2024, EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024 and EPT/ED/GOV/03/2024.
It had on January 31, 2925, admitted in evidence, 148 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System Machines (BVAS) that were used during the conduct of the disputed governorship poll.
The electronic devices were tendered by a Senior Technical Officer in the ICT Department of INEC, Anthony Itodo, and admitted in evidence by the panel.
The petitioners had subpoenaed INEC to produce the BVAS machines that were used in 133 polling units where election results are being disputed.
247nextnews.com reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had declared that Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), winner of the election after securing a total of 291, 667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ighodalo of the PDP, who got a total of 247, 655 votes.
Not satisfied, PDP and Ighodalo approached the Tribunal, praying it to nullify INEC’s declaration of the APC and Okpebholo as winners of the contest.
They alleged that the election was marred by irregularities.
Among other things, the Petitioners contended that the governorship election was invalid because of alleged non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
However, APC and Okpebholo urged the Tribunal to dismiss the petitions for being baseless, arguing that the Petitioners had failed to substantiate the allegations in their petitions.
