The Edo state governorship Election tribunal has dismissed the petition of Asue Ighodalo, Candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, challenging the victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo, the All Progressives Congress Candidate in the September 21, 2024 for lacking merit.
The three-member panel led by justice Wilfred Kpochi in a landmark judgement, affirmed the declaration of by the Independent National Electoral Commission that Monday Okpebholo is the duly elected governor of Edo State.
He held that Ighodalo failed to prove the allegations against the respondents, noting that
“no competent witnesses were called” to prove the averments in their petition.
Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Ighodalo of the PDP, who got 247,274 votes, while Olumide Akpata, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), clinger the third position with 22,763 votes.
But the Candidate of PDP and PDP had approached the tribunal to challenge the outcome, arguing that election was invalid because of alleged non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
Ighodalo and PDP had asked the court to nullify the declaration of Okpebholo as winner on the basis that the election was allegedly marred by irregularities, according to reports.
A Chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party hinted TheNewspad Correspondent that the party and its Candidate, Asue Ighodalo will decide the next decision on the appeal after receiving briefs from their lawyers.
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