Edo State Gov’ship tribunal dismisses petition filed by Accord Party

By Andrew Orolua

The Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja has dismissed the petition filed by Governorship candidate of Accord Party,AP, Dr Bright Enabulele .

Dr. Enabulele had in the election petition challenged the election of Gov. Monday Okpebholo of All Progressives Congress,APC,.on alleged grounds that the September 21, 2024.goveenorship in the state was marred by irregularities.

In its judgment, the Tribunal held that the Accord party and its governorship candidate Dr Bright Enabulele made spurious wild allegations of thuggery stuffing ballots, harassing and molesting voters but failed to name a single perpetrator.

The tribunal also found that the two petitioners were inconsistent in their claims bordering on allegations of non compliance with the Electoral Act and at same time praying tribunal to declare Enabulele the winner.

It would be absurd, the tribunal stated for it to declare Accord Party winners of the election they claimed have been conducted without compliance with the Electoral Act.

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In the final analysis, the tribunal held that there was no meaningful evidence for it to act upon to nullify the election of Okpebholo and APC and subsequently dismissed the petition in its entirety.

The tribunal also affirmed the election of Okpebholo for being valid, conducted in compliance with the law and properly declared as winners by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC.

With the latest judgment, Governor Monday Okpebholo and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have won the second in the series of the petitions challenging APC victory at September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo state.

Recall that INEC had declared Okpebholo of the APC who won 291, 667 votes winner of the election and his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, who polled 247, 655 votes in the election as second runner up.