The Edo Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Wednesday dismissed the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Mr. Asue Ighodalo, challenging the outcome of the September 21 election.
Delivering the judgment in Abuja, the three-member panel unanimously upheld the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with 291,667 votes, ahead of Ighodalo’s 247,655.
The tribunal, chaired by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, ruled that the PDP and Ighodalo failed to prove their core allegation of overvoting across 320 polling units in the 18 Local Government Areas of the state.
“The claims of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022 were not proven because the petitioners failed to call competent witnesses to substantiate their claims,” Kpochi stated.
He emphasized that while the petitioners tendered various documents—including polling unit results, collation results, BVAS data, and other materials—they failed to bring witnesses to connect those documents to the allegations raised.
“Where no evidence is made, it is not the duty of the tribunal to scrutinise the documents for the petitioners,” the tribunal chairman said.
Justice Kpochi further explained that to establish a case of overvoting, the petitioners must provide three critical documents: the Voters Register, BVAS accreditation data, and Form EC8A (polling unit result).
“How do you prove over voting if you don’t know the number of the registered voters?” he asked pointedly.
The PDP had called 19 witnesses, including collation agents and a research expert, but the tribunal ruled that their testimonies failed to establish the burden of proof.
Consequently, the tribunal struck out the petition, affirming that there was no substantial non-compliance with electoral laws as alleged.
This decision marks the second such dismissal by the tribunal, which had earlier thrown out similar petitions by the Action Alliance and Accord Party, labeling them frivolous and lacking in merit. With this ruling, Governor Okpebholo’s victory stands validated, effectively closing the legal challenge brought by the PDP and its candidate.