Edo governorship election tribunal will on Wednesday, April 2 deliver judgment on petition filed by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the election result.
Gatekeepers News reports that Ighodalo and PDP had approached the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the governorship election which was held on September 21, 2024.
The election saw Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declare Monday Okpebholo, All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, as winner.
Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Asue Ighodalo of PDP, who got 247,274 votes, while Olumide Akpata, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), came third with 22,763 votes.
The petitioners had told the court that the governorship election was invalid because of alleged non-compliance with provisions of Electoral Act 2022.
They prayed the court to nullify the declaration of Okpebholo as winner citing that the election was allegedly marred by irregularities.
Okpebholo and APC however asked the court to dismiss the petition, saying the petitioners did not substantiate the allegations.
In January, the tribunal relocated from Benin City to Abuja, following a shooting incident near the court’s premises.
During the hearing, the tribunal admitted in evidence 148 bimodal voter accreditation system machines (BVAS) used for the 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.
On March 3, a three-member tribunal headed by Wilfred Kpochi, reserved judgment on the petition after the parties adopted their final written addresses.
