The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, Edo State has affirmed Monday Okpebholo as the duly elected Governor of Edo State, dismissing petitions challenging his victory.
In a series of three judgments delivered on Wednesday, the tribunal rejected petitions filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Action Alliance (AA), and Accord Party (AP), ruling that they failed to provide sufficient evidence to substantiate their claims of electoral malpractice.
The tribunal particularly criticised the PDP’s failure to present credible evidence to support allegations of overvoting and electoral irregularities.
The panel held that the party did not call polling unit agents as witnesses from all the units where it had alleged irregularities took place. However, the tribunal noted that out of the 19 witnesses presented by the PDP, 14 were ward and local government agents.
In contrast, the party’s “star witness,” who claimed to be a Director of Strategy, played no direct role in the conduct of the election.
The tribunal found this inadequate to prove the allegations of malpractice.
The tribunal further ruled that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) reports tendered by the petitioners were merely “dumped” on the court without proper analysis or corroboration.
This, it held, rendered the evidence insufficient to alter the outcome of the election.
Meanwhile earlier on Wednesday, it was reported that the Tribunal, sitting in Abuja, had dismissed petitions filed by the AA and the Accord Party, challenging the election of Governor Okpebolo.
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