Edo Poll: Ighodalo Advances to Supreme Court After Tribunal Confirms Okpebholo as Governor

Asue Ighodalo, who was the Peoples Democratic Party nominee for governor in last year’s election in Edo State, has announced his intention to challenge the decision made by the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal held in Abuja. The tribunal validated Governor Monday Okpebholo from the All Progressives Congress as the victor of the September 21, 2024, polling.

The Justice Wilfred Kpochi-led three-member panel, in a unanimous judgment, dismissed the petition of the PDP and Ighodalo for their inability to prove the allegation of over-voting, affirming that Okpebholo scored the highest number of valid votes in the election.

The tribunal criticized the manner in which the petitioners presented their evidence concerning the accusations made against them.

However, Ighadalo, in an announcement on Wednesday, clearly expressed his discontent with the tribunal’s decision, stating further that he intended to challenge the verdict through an appeal.

"Today, which happens to be Wednesday, the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has announced its decision regarding our petition contesting the results of the gubernatorial election held on September 21st, 2024, in our beloved state," said Ighodalo.

Although we might not concur with the decision, we firmly uphold the notion that the principle of law should serve as the foundation of our democratic system. Striving for justice here underscores our strong conviction that the citizens of Edo State have the unalienable right to elect their representatives through a transparent, impartial, and equitable voting procedure, which cannot be undermined.

“As a committed democrat, I respect the judiciary as the last hope of the common man, and I urge all of you, our dear good people of Edo State, to remain peaceful, calm, and law-abiding in the aftermath of this judgment. However, let it be clear: this is not the end of our journey, but the beginning of a greater struggle for justice, democracy, and the sanctity of the people’s mandate freely conferred on my running mate, Osarodion Ogie, and me on the platform of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party.”

Ighodalo also directed his legal team to move forward with an appeal at the Court of Appeal against the tribunal’s ruling.

“From the very beginning, your massive show of support, sincere love, and belief in our shared vision for a prosperous Edo State have been the driving force behind this journey. For us, it has never been about the realisation of a personal ambition but about our conviction to create a clear pathway to prosperity for all Edo people while upholding the foundational values of democracy, justice, and the will of the people.

“I have, therefore, instructed my legal team to proceed to the Court of Appeal to challenge this decision, which we consider a huge travesty of justice. This is not about me or any single individual; it is about the very essence of democracy, the preservation of our collective right to freely determine our future, and the legacy we leave for generations to come,” Ighodalo said.

Also, the Campaign Director of the Asue/Ogie Campaign Council, Mathew Iduoriyekemwen, described the judgment as a miscarriage of justice, noting that his party and its candidate disagree with the judgment.

He said, “First of all, our lawyers are studying the judgment to see the reasons why and how the tribunal reached their conclusion. But listening to the language of the judgment, you will see that it tallies with what some members of the All Progressives Congress have been saying during the hearing of the case. They had said we came to dump BVAS and document in court.

Make sure everyone understands that all the documents we submitted in court were certified as genuine copies by INEC, and they didn’t raise any objections about this at the tribunal. Had INEC claimed these documents did not come from them, it might have cast some doubt, necessitating further verification.

Our legal team performed exceptionally well in demonstrating issues of overvoting through meticulous counting and calculations. Whenever such instances occur, affected polling units must be invalidated. After tallying the results, we found that Ighodalo emerged victorious in 12 out of the 18 local government areas, securing more than 30,000 votes.

“Definitely, we will appeal this judgment and if we had won today, the APC would have appealed too. We disagree with the judgment; it is a miscarriage of justice.”

In his comments, Governor Okpebholo attributed his win to divine favor and expressed gratitude to the APC leaders for their backing. He also mentioned that the tribunal’s decision served as an incentive for him to continue transforming the state.

On his X account, he posted: "Today, the Tribunal upheld the responsibility entrusted to me by the kind folks from Edo State. This triumph is attributed to God and each Edo resident who shares our common aspiration for a richer, more thriving community."

I offer my deepest appreciation to our esteemed party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), along with its leaders, for their steadfast backing and dedication to democratic principles. This ruling strengthens our resolve to implement effective governance and propel the advancement of Edo State.

The adventure goes on. United, we shall restore greatness to Edo.

Jarret Tenebe, the interim chairperson of Edo APC, mentioned that although Okpehbolo won, this wasn’t an occasion for celebration; instead, they should carry forward the positive initiatives started during the governor's tenure. He emphasized that the administration remains committed to enhancing the well-being of the citizens with further actions.

He stated, "The ruling confirming Okpehbolo as the Governor of Edo State is indeed a triumph for democracy, Edo State, and Nigeria at large."

I urge other political parties to collaborate with Okpehbolo to implement the benefits of democracy, as the verdict demonstrated that the voters supported Okpehbolo.

Following the completion of the 2024 gubernatorial elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission declared Okpebholo, who was backed by the APC, the victor of the polls.

Although Okpebholo received 291,667 votes and emerged as the victor in the election, Ighodalo and the PDP secured 247,655 votes, placing them in second position.

Unhappy with the election outcome, PDP and Ighodalo took INEC, Okpebholo, and APC to the tribunal.

In a petition labeled EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, the signatories claimed that Okpebholo failed to achieve the highest vote count in the election. They also asserted that the electoral process was tainted by various irregularities and instances of corruption.

The signatories claimed an excessive number of instances where votes exceeded the eligible count during the election and requested that the tribunal annul the poll due to issues such as unsequenced ballot papers, inaccurate aggregation of numbers, and miscalculations in 765 voting stations.

The petitioners argued that the election was flawed due to non-adherence to the provisions of the Electoral Act.

It was equally the contention of the petitioners that INEC failed to serialise and pre-record some of the sensitive materials that were deployed for the poll, a situation they said aided the rigging of the election in favour of the APC and its candidate.

In the course of the trial, the petitioners called 19 witnesses to defend their claim that the election was marred with irregularities and should be nullified, INEC the 1st respondent did not call any witness(es).

Meanwhile, the petitioners subpoenaed a Senior Technical Officer from INEC’s ICT Department, who tendered 154 BVAS machines from133 polling units to the tribunal to support their allegations of over-voting.

Okpebholo, the second respondent in the petition, called a lonesome witness while the APC on its part called four witnesses before closing its defence.

Although the petitioners asked the tribunal to invalidate the election because they claimed to have provided adequate proof supporting their claims, the respondents requested the tribunal to reject the petition, arguing that the arguments made by the petitioners lacked substance.

They asserted that the petitioners did not demonstrate with sufficient evidence that Ighodalo, rather than Okpebholo, had won the election beyond a reasonable doubt.

The decision, presented by Tribunal Chairman Justice Kpochi, stated that the petitioners failed to persuade the court to connect their accusations with the evidence provided.

The tribunal held that it was clear that the documents, which include voters register, BVAS machine and form EC8a, were required to prove the allegations of over-voting but the petitioners failed to demonstrate it.

Adding that most of the witnesses that testified for the petitioners gave hearsay evidence, 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.

We assert that the petitioners' failure to summon polling unit agents, presiding officers, or other registered voters proved detrimental to their case.

The law continues to state that documents cannot speak on their own behalf. A petitioner needs to establish proof of their evidence. It is mandatory to demonstrate the claim of non-compliance.

“It is not for us to sit back and look at it. Among the other plentitude of documents dumped on us, we still require evidence that shows that there was extra recording of votes.

“The BVAS machine was clearly dumped and remains dormant. None of the witnesses could speak to the BVAS machine. The machines were not demonstrated to prove the allegations of over-voting.

“We cannot be bamboozled under the semantics. We would rather follow the road map as shown by the apex Court.

All the documentation submitted by the petitioners to demonstrate over-voting fails to meet the necessary criteria.

The law mandates that the petitioners must summon witnesses to connect the provided evidence.

"Resolved in favor of the respondents," Justice Kpochi declared.

The tribunal ruled that an election carried out in clear violation of the electoral act’s directives is considered non-compliant with the act itself. However, the petitioners were unable to demonstrate that the Independent National Electoral Commission had failed to adhere to the act’s stipulations during the elections.

The signatories were unable to demonstrate that the initial respondent violated the stipulations of the electoral legislation or the INEC code of conduct as mandated by law.

The tribunal also held that as against the petitioners’ claims by their witnesses, there is serial numbers on the ballot papers. “There are figures here,” Justice Kpochi said.

The tribunal rejected the claim that no previous documentation of the election materials existed before voting began.

The tribunal stated that it was not solely the responsibility of the petitioners to demonstrate at the tribunal that the second respondent had been incorrectly proclaimed victorious by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). A petitioner must base their success on the merits of their own case rather than relying on the weaknesses of the defense.

The tribunal further ruled that the additional facts presented by the petitioners in their reply, which were absent from their main argument, were irrelevant to the tribunal’s proceedings and thus dismissed them as noted by the panel.

Previously, the tribunal rejected the plea submitted by the Action Alliance concerning both Okpebholo and the Independent National Electoral Commission.

In their plea, AA similarly contested Okpebholo’s designation as the victor of the gubernatorial race in Edo State.

The tribunal dismissed the petition brought against the respondents by the Action Alliance along with Adekunle Rufai Omoaje due to insufficient grounds.

Similarly, the tribunal dismissed the petition submitted by the Accord Party, which contested Okpebholo’s victory in the election.

The tribunal ruled that the Accord Party and its candidate for governor did not manage to establish their claims made in the petition with sufficient evidence to overcome reasonable doubt.

The organization similarly turned down the political party’s plea to instruct the Independent National Electoral Commission to hold a new gubernatorial election in the region.

Wike congratulates Okpebholo

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory , Nyesom Wike, has congratulated Governor Okpebholo on his victory at the election tribunal.

In a statement on Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, Wike described the tribunal ruling as a further confirmation of the mandate freely given to Okpebholo by the people of Edo State.

He urged the governor to remain focused on governance and not to be distracted by those seeking power “through the back door.”

“The victory is for the people of Edo State who elected Governor Okpebholo,” Wike stated.

“I believe in him, and with the way he has started, I am confident that his government will have a positive impact on Edo State and its people.”

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