Edo Gov’ship election dispute: Ighodalo, Okpebholo know fate today

… Just as purported judgement circulates online on Tuesday

By Andrew Orolua

The Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal will today Wednesday, April 2, 2025, deliver judgement in the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo.

Ighodalo, in his petition is challenging. the election of Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who was declared winner of the September 21, 2024 governorship election in the state.

The PDP and Ighodalo are challenging the decision by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that declared Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election. They alleged that the election was marred by irregularities.

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The three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, had, on March 3, reserved judgement in the petition after parties adopted their final written addresses.

The tribunal will deliver judgement in the three petitions marked: EPT/ED/GOV/01/2024, EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024 and EPT/ED/GOV/03/2024.

The tribunal had, on January 31, admitted in evidence, 148 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System Machines (BVAS) that were used during the conduct of the disputed governorship election.

The electronic devices were tendered by a Senior Technical Officer in the ICT Department of INEC, Anthony Itodo, and admitted in evidence by the panel.

The petitioners had subpoenaed INEC to produce the BVAS machines that were used in 133 polling units where election results are being disputed.

INEC had declared that Okpebholo of the APC secured 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ighodalo of the PDP, who got 247,655 votes.

Dissatisfied with the outcome of the poll, the PDP and its candidate approached the tribunal, praying it to nullify INEC’s declaration of Okpebholo as the winner of the election.

The petitioners, among other things, contended that the governorship election was invalid because of alleged non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

However, the APC and Okpebholo urged the tribunal to dismiss the petitions for being baseless, arguing that the petitioners failed to substantiate the allegations in their petitions.

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But, controversy seems to have crippled in yesterday as unsigned purported election tribunal judgement circulate on social media platform.

Sadly ,The documents surfaced barely 24 hours after the panel summoned all parties involved in the case to appear before it on April 2, 2025 for judgement delivery.

The unexpected appearance of the documents has sparked confusion and debate over the tribunal’s final ruling.

The three-member panel, led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, had on March 3 reserved judgement on the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo, challenging the result of the September 21, 2024, governorship election.

However, before the official ruling could be delivered, copies of what seemed to be the judgement circulated widely on the internet, revealing a split decision among the judges.

According to the leaked documents, the tribunal’s chairman, Justice Kpochi, and another panel member, Justice A. B. Yusuf, ruled in favour of Governor Monday Okpebholo, dismissing the PDP’s petition and upholding his election.

However, the third judge, Justice A. A. Adewole, gave a minority judgement.

In his minority judgement, he reportedly declared that Okpebholo’s election was invalid due to irregularities and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a fresh Certificate of Return to Ighodalo as the rightful winner.

Justice Adewole was said to have based his decision on alleged non-compliance with the Electoral Act, stating that the total valid votes showed Ighodalo had 243,113 votes while Okpebholo had 210,326.

He argued that the PDP’s case was not properly countered and that evidence showed the final election results were incorrectly declared.

In contrast, the majority decision of the tribunal acknowledged certain irregularities but stated that the PDP failed to prove they were substantial enough to affect the overall outcome.

Justice Kpochi and Justice Yusuf referenced previous Supreme Court rulings, asserting that while errors in collation and exclusions were found, they did not change the margin of victory or prove that Ighodalo had more lawful votes.

The documents if it turns out to be genuine would raise serious concerns over the security of judicial documents and the credibility of the process