03/04/2025
While the governor has extended an olive branch as an offer of reconciliation to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Asue Ighodalo, to join hands with him to develop the state, Ighodalo has, however, vowed to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal.
The tribunal, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel, said it found no reason to nullify the outcome of the governorship contest held in the state on September 21, 2024. Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Wilfred Kpochi, who delivered the lead judgment, dismissed as lacking in merit a petition the PDP and its candidate, Ighodalo, filed to challenge the declaration of Okpebholo as the valid winner of the gubernatorial poll.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared that Okpebholo of the APC secured a total of 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ighodalo of the PDP, who got 247,655 votes. Dissatisfied with the result, the PDP and its candidate approached the tribunal, alleging that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act of 2022.
In the petition marked EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, it was alleged that Governor Okpebholo did not secure the highest number of lawful votes that were cast in the election. It was equally the contention of the petitioners that INEC failed to serialise and pre-record some of the sensitive materials that were deployed for the poll, a situation they said aided the rigging of the election in favour of the APC and its candidate.
Specifically, PDP and its candidate alleged that there was a wrong computation of results in 765 polling units in the state, even as they produced 19 witnesses that testified and tendered exhibits before the tribunal.
Among the exhibits the petitioners tendered before the tribunal were 153 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines that were used in 133 polling units. OSAZE Tv Instablog9ja Pulse Nigeria
