The election tribunal has upheld the victory of Governor Okpebholo in the September 21, 2024, governorship election, dismissing the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo.
In a unanimous decision, the three-member panel ruled that there was no basis to nullify the election results. Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Wilfred Kpochi stated that the petition lacked merit and failed to establish any substantial irregularities in the election process.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Okpebholo, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner with 291,667 votes, defeating Ighodalo, who secured 247,655 votes.
However, dissatisfied with the outcome, the PDP and Ighodalo challenged the result, alleging that the election was not conducted in line with the Electoral Act, 2022.
Their petition, marked EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, argued that Okpebholo did not secure the highest lawful votes and that INEC failed to properly serialize and pre-record sensitive electoral materials, allegedly facilitating electoral malpractice in favor of the APC.
They also claimed there were errors in vote computation across 765 polling units and presented 19 witnesses, along with 153 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines used in 133 polling units.
Despite these claims, the tribunal ruled that the petitioners failed to provide credible evidence to overturn the election result.
It emphasized that the burden of proof rested on the petitioners and that they had not demonstrated their case convincingly.
The panel also noted that several witnesses presented hearsay evidence, and crucial figures such as polling unit agents and presiding officers did not testify.
The tribunal rejected certain new facts introduced by the petitioners that were not in their original case and ruled that while PDP and Ighodalo had identified areas of alleged infractions, they failed to properly demonstrate them with competent witnesses.
The court also found no substantial evidence to support allegations of over-voting or non-compliance with electoral guidelines.
It concluded that even if the allegedly unlawful votes credited to the APC were removed, Okpebholo would still have emerged victorious.
Following the verdict, Ighodalo’s legal team announced their intention to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal.