•Oshiomhole
Legal fireworks have resumed before the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, presented their 16th witness.
The witness, Haruna Ibrahim, told Justice Wilfred Kpochi-led three-member panel that he served as a polling unit agent during the gubernatorial election that was held in the state on September 21, 2024, reports Vanguard.
He told the tribunal that though the election was properly conducted, he observed some irregularities in the form of over-voting and immediately complained to officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, at the polling unit.
Ibrahim mounted the box shortly after a former governor of the state, Adams Oshoimhole, who is currently representing Edo North Senatorial District, stormed the tribunal to show solidarity with Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who was declared the winner of the governorship contest by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Aside from Oshiomhole who piloted the affairs of Edo State from 2008 to 2016, equally at the tribunal to observe the proceedings, is the immediate Deputy Governor of the state, Philip Shaibu, who had since defected from the PDP to the APC.
It will be recalled that the tribunal had on Thursday, admitted in evidence, 148 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System Machines, BVAS, that were used during the conduct of the disputed governorship poll.
The electronic devices, which were tendered by a Senior Technical Officer in the ICT Department of INEC, Anthony Itodo, were admitted in evidence on a day that two Ward Agents of the PDP explained that they refused to sign results of the election owing to irregularities they said took place at the collation centre during the computation process.
The petitioners had subpoenaed INEC to produce the BVAS machines that were used in 133 polling units where election results are being disputed.
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 a total of 247, 655 votes.
Aggrieved by the outcome of the poll, the PDP and its candidate approached the tribunal, praying it to nullify INEC’s declaration of the APC and Okpebholo as winners of the contest.
The petitioners, among other things, contended that the governorship election was invalid because of alleged non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act.
