Verification: a0d6e82a7952e405

The Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which is based in Abuja, has set Wednesday as the date to deliver its verdict on the petition submitted by the Peopleโ€™s Democratic Party (PDP) along with their candidate from the gubernatorial election held on September 21, 2024, where they contested the validity of the poll results.

On Tuesday, The Nation reported that notifications were issued to various parties via hearing notices.

The tribunal, led by Chief Justice Wilfred Kpochi, postponed the ruling until March 3 following the conclusion of final arguments from all involved parties.

In their petition, PDP and Ighodalo are challenging INECโ€™s decision to proclaim Senator Monday Okpebholo from APC as the victor of the election. They allege that the poll was compromised by various irregularities.

Shortly after both sides’ attorneys submitted their written arguments and presented their concluding statements on March 3rd, the panel of three judges declared that they would inform the involved parties of the judgment date later.

The lawyer for the petitioners, Ken Mozia (SAN), argued in his concluding statement that his clients have effectively proven instances of electoral misconduct in 765 voting stations out of a total of 4,519 within the state.

He observed inconsistencies across different tiers of data aggregation, with numbers from Form EC8A (individual polling unit outcomes) reportedly being decreased during the consolidation phases for wards and local governments as documented on EC8B forms.

The lawyers representing the petitioners also mentioned that INEC validated all the documentation submitted by their clients; however, they did not provide any evidence to refute these submissions.

He stated: “The concern isn’t about generating another outcome, but rather about challenging the authenticity of the uploaded data on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.”

Mozia contended that election petitions ought to be judged based on how irregularities influenced the overall process rather than solely focusing on the proportion of tainted polling stations.

He subsequently requested the tribunal to award all the remedies outlined in the petition, including nullifying Okpebholoโ€™s triumph.

Attorney for INEC, Kanu Agabi (SAN), contended that the petition was without substantial grounds, stating that the tribunal does not have the authority to nullify the election as this was not requested by the petitioners.

Agabi further contended that the tribunal does not have the authority to rule that the petitioners are the victors of the election, considering they claim the election itself was illegitimate.

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He argued that the grounds for non-compliance cited by the petitioners do not include the necessary consequent relief, which should have involved the nullification of the election, further stating that this particular ground is invalid.

Agabi contended that the quantity of polling unit agents invited as witnesses by the petitioners is too small to reflect the total number of polling units in Edo State.

He stated that the basis for the petitioners’ claims rests on an examination of documents rather than the events occurring at the time of the election.

The lawyer representing Okpebholo, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), characterized the petition as merely “an academic exercise.” They contended that the materials submitted by the petitioners, such as Forms EC25B and EC40A, were presented to the court without sufficient evidence showing how these documents substantively relate to the case at hand.

He requested the tribunal to reject the petition.

Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), who represents the APC, presented comparable points and requested the tribunal to dismiss the petition.

Provided by Syndigate Media Inc. (
Syndigate.info
).


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