A document purporting to be the judgement of the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has surfaced online.
This is coming a day before the tribunal delivers judgement in the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, against the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo State.
The leaked judgement which appeared on social media on Tuesday, April 1, showed a split decision among the three-member panel led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi.
According to the documents, two of the justices, Kpochi and A.B. Yusuf, ruled to dismiss the petition, while Justice A.A. Adewole gave a minority judgement in favour of Ighodalo.
In the leaked minority judgement, Justice Adewole argued that Governor Monday Okpebholo’s election should be nullified due to significant violations of the Electoral Act.
He claimed that Ighodalo and the PDP had provided enough proof that their candidate should have received 243,113 votes compared to Okpebholo’s 210,326 votes, which would have changed the election’s outcome.
“The petitioners’ case was not rebutted, and they showed unit by unit how the actual total should be 243,113 votes, while the 2nd Respondent’s tally should stand at 210,326 votes – a clear reversal of the declared result,” Justice Adewole reportedly wrote.
On the other hand, the majority ruling by Justice Kpochi acknowledged that some irregularities occurred, such as improper documentation of serial numbers in EC 25B forms and cases of over-voting.
However, the tribunal concluded that these issues did not significantly impact the election results.
“The petitioners have not discharged the dual burden to the satisfaction of the law. Accordingly, the petition lacks merit and is hereby dismissed,” Justice Kpochi stated.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared that Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (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 election, 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.
The leaked documents:
