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Ighodalo, PDP head to Supreme Court
By Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has affirmed the election of Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as Governor of Edo State.
A three-member panel of the appellate court, led by Justice Mohammed A. Danjuma, in a unanimous judgment, dismissed the appeal lodged by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo, against the outcome of the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State.
In affirming the judgment of the tribunal, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal for lacking merit.
Specifically, the court held that it found no reason to invalidate the May 15 judgment of the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which upheld the declaration of Governor Okpebholo of the APC as the winner of the gubernatorial contest.
Meanwhile, in a swift reaction, Ighodalo vowed to challenge the judgment at the Supreme Court.
The Justice Wilfred Kpochi-led three-member panel had dismissed the petitions by the PDP and its candidate; the Action Alliance (AA) and its National Chairman, Adekunle Rufai Omoaje; as well as a case brought before it by the Accord Party (AP) and its candidate, Dr Bright Enabulele, as lacking merit.
In its unanimous judgment, the tribunal held that it found no reason to nullify the outcome of the election declared in favour of the APC and its candidate, Okpebholo.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared that Okpebholo of the APC secured a total of 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ighodalo of the PDP, who got a total of 247,655 votes.
Dissatisfied with the result, the petitioners approached the tribunal, alleging that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
In the petition marked EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, PDP and its candidate alleged that Governor Okpebholo did not secure the highest number of lawful votes cast at the election.
The petitioners equally contended that INEC failed to serialise and pre-record some of the sensitive materials deployed for the poll, a situation they said aided the rigging of the election in favour of the APC and its candidate.
In its petition, PDP and its candidate alleged that there was wrong computation of results in 765 polling units in the state, even as they produced 19 witnesses who testified and tendered exhibits before the tribunal.
However, in its judgment, the tribunal held that the petitioners failed, by way of credible evidence, to establish why the outcome of the election should be set aside.
It held that the onus of proving that Governor Okpebholo was unduly returned by INEC rested squarely on the petitioners, a legal burden it said was not successfully discharged.
According to the tribunal, the PDP and its candidate merely dumped exhibits before it without demonstrating them through competent witnesses as required by law.
It held that most of the witnesses who testified for the petitioners gave hearsay evidence, stressing that the failure to produce polling unit agents, presiding officers, or voters who participated in the election to testify proved fatal to the case of the petitioners.
The tribunal held that Section 137 of the Electoral Act did not preclude the petitioners from producing necessary and competent witnesses to testify in support of their case.