By Ayodele Oni
A viral report on social media has leaked the judgement of the Election Petition Tribunal handling the last year’s Governorship election in Edo State.
This is just as the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal Fixes Wednesday, to deliver judgement in the petition filed by the PDP and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, against the September 21, 2024 governorship election in the state.
The PDP and Ighodalo are challenging the decision by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election.
They alleged that the election was marred by irregularities.
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.
Report reveal that there has been jubilation in Edo APC as the leaked Tribunal Judgement Shows 2-1 majority in favour of Governor Monday Okpebholo.
A storm of excitement swept through Edo APC circles late Sunday evening after what appeared to be a draft copy of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal’s judgment surfaced in a WhatsApp group populated by senior party stakeholders.
The document, which seems to mirror an official format, complete with judicial language, cited authorities, and even a breakdown of the votes in contention indicates a 2-1 majority ruling affirming the declaration of Monday Okpebholo as the duly elected Governor of Edo State.
Okpebholo was cited in Abuja on Monday where he had gone to commiserate with prominent Indigenes of Kano over brutal killing of some of the Indigenes by mob attack in Edo.
The Governor was also guest of President Bola Tinubu who commended him for his administration’s stride in the state.
The draft judgment appears to have dismissed the petition filed by PDP’s Asue Ighodalo and his party on grounds of insufficient proof that non-compliance substantially affected the outcome of the election.
Citing cases like Oyetola v. Adeleke and Atiku v. INEC, the judgment stated that while there was some evidence of irregularities, it wasn’t enough to overturn the INEC-declared result.
However, the leaked document also includes a fiery dissenting judgment by one of the Justices, who found in favour of the PDP candidate, stating that substantial non-compliance had indeed occurred across over 500 polling units and that the recalculated votes clearly put Ighodalo ahead.
His minority verdict called for INEC to nullify the current certificate of return and issue a new one to Ighodalo.
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