UPDATED: Accord Party’s request to remove Gov Okpebholo declined at tribunal

From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

The Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja has declined the request by the Accord Party (AP) and its governorship candidate to nullify the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) after striking out its petition for being incompetent.

The Justice Wilfred Kpochi- led three-member tribunal in a unanimous judgment yesterday equally refused to order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh governorship poll in Edo state.

While striking out the petition, the tribunal held that the petitioners failed to adduce credible evidence to establish the allegations that the governorship election held in the state on September 21, 2024, was invalid by reason of corrupt practices and non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, as contained in their petition.

According to the tribunal, while the petitioners made “general and sweeping allegations” against the outcome of the election, they failed to bring particulars of exact polling units or wards where the alleged widespread rigging and non-compliance occurred.

While describing some of the averments in the petition as “vague”, the tribunal held that allegations against governor Okpebholo’s victory were not substantiated.

The tribunal said it found merit in all the preliminary objections that were filed to challenge the competence of the petition.

INEC 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, and the candidate of the AP scored a total of 252 votes.

But in its petition, AP and its candidate challenged the result of the election, insisting that it was fraught with manifest irregularities they said included multiple thumbprinting, violence, intimidation and harassment of voters, as well as alleged failure to use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines in various polling units in the state.

The tribunal held that the petition did not disclose any reasonable cause of action.

Earlier, the tribunal had, in its first judgment, dismissed another petition from the Action Alliance (AA) also filed to nullify governor Okpebholo’s election.

After discarding the two petitions, the tribunal is now set to pass its verdict in the petition by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo.