Court begins Edo governorship election’s battle

The All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party have said that they are ready for legal battle as the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal commences hearing of the petitions challenging the outcome of the September 21, 2024 poll.

Independent National Electoral Commission declared the APC candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, winner of the poll, while the PDP candidate, Dr Asue Ighodalo, was declared the first runner-up.

The PDP and Ighodalo, however, rejected the result of the poll, which they alleged was manipulated and therefore filed a petition before the tribunal.

Ahead of the tribunal’s pre-hearing today (Monday), the Edo PDP Caretaker Chairman, Tony Aziegbemi, called for a fair examination of the evidence before the tribunal.

“That is what we expected the tribunal to do. Our lawyers will be there to show clearly that the election was stolen by the All Progressives Congress. For us as a party, we believe that the judiciary will look at the evidence that we have overwhelmingly to show that the election was stolen and we expect our lawyers to do justice to that.

“We expect the judiciary to look at the case dispassionately based on the evidence before them and take a decision that will have traces of justice,” he said.

On the other hand, the APC Publicity Secretary, Peter Uwadiae-Igbinigie, expressed confidence in his party’s legal team and readiness to challenge the PDP’s petition.

He said: “We are prepared for the tribunal as we are respondent in the petition being filed. We have some of best hand in our legal team. We have also looked at the petition they filed and without prejudice to the case they filed, we want to say that we are ready to meet them in court.”

He added: “We are also ready to expose any PDP’s act that can be prejudicial to the case. We know that the calibre of those who have been appointed into the tribunal are people who are impenetrable and have proven integrity.”

Uwadiae-Igbinigie further stated: “We know the case they have filed against us and we have also filed our responses. Edo people will now know that the PDP has lost electoral value in the state while the APC government is ready to embark on programmes that will better the lot of Edo people.”

INEC had declared APC’s Okpebholo the winner of the election with 291,667 votes, defeating PDP’s Ighodalo, who garnered 247,274 votes, and the Labour Party’s Olumide Akpata, who received 22,763 votes.

Dissatisfied with INEC’s declaration, the PDP and six other political parties have approached the tribunal to contest the result.

The tribunal, led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, is set to hear seven separate petitions, with the PDP seeking to nullify the result and have Ighodalo declared the winner.

Other petitioners include the Accord Party, Social Democratic Party, and Allied Peoples Movement, each challenging the election results and naming INEC, Okpebholo, and the APC as respondents.