The Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has dismissed the case filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, challenging the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo.
The petitioners had alleged that the election was marred by non-compliance with the Electoral Act and over-voting, making the results invalid. However, the tribunal, citing established Supreme Court precedents, ruled that while there were instances of non-compliance, the burden of proof lay entirely with the petitioners and could not be transferred to the respondents, Governor Okpebholo and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Furthermore, the tribunal found no sufficient evidence to support claims that Okpebholo was not duly elected, leading to the collapse of the allegations under legal scrutiny.
A key weakness in the PDP’s case, according to the tribunal, was the failure to present polling unit agents as witnesses to validate the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) forms they submitted. The tribunal ruled that this amounted to merely submitting documents without proper verification, which weakened the case significantly.
