There is another round of tension in Edo State, as the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal is now set to deliver judgment on the Edo State governorship election.
ENigeria News reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the governorship election, a development that was immediately challenged by Asue Ighodalo, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State.
According to INEC, Okpebholo defeated Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP).
However, the PDP candidate, Asue Ighodalo, launched a petition contesting Okpebholo’s election victory on September 21, 2024. They charged INEC with electoral irregularities, such as excessive voting, a failure to serialize ballots, collation issues, and inaccurate result computations.
In addition to calling a senior technical officer from INEC’s ICT department, the petitioners called 19 witnesses during the tribunal sessions. The officer provided 154 BVAS machines as evidence to support claims of over-voting.
In the case, which was marked EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, INEC did not call any witnesses in response to the petition. Okpebholo presented one witness, while the APC brought forward four witnesses before concluding their defense.
The three-member panel, led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi in the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, had, in the last seating, stated that the tribunal’s judgment would be delivered at a later date.
“A date for judgment will be communicated to the parties by the Secretary of the tribunal. The tribunal stands adjourned until then,” said Justice Kpochi.
In its recent communication, the Tribunal has scheduled Wednesday, April 2, 2025, to deliver its judgment on the September 2024 election, hence fueling another round of tension in the state after the recent killing of over 19 Fulani ‘hunters’ days back.
