On Wednesday, the Edo Governorship Election Petition Tribunal will deliver judgment on the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, against the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo.

The PDP and Mr Ighodalo are challenging the decision by the INEC to declare Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress as the winner.

They alleged that irregularities marred the election.

The three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, had, on March 3, reserved judgment on the petition after the parties adopted their final written addresses.

The tribunal will deliver judgment in the three petitions marked EPT/ED/GOV/01/2024, EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024 and EPT/ED/GOV/03/2024.

The tribunal had, on January 31, admitted in evidence 148 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System Machines that were used during the conduct of the disputed governorship poll.

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.

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 Mr Okpebholo of the APC secured 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Mr Ighodalo of the PDP, who got 247,655 votes.

Dissatisfied with the outcome of the poll, the PDP and its candidate approached the tribunal, praying it to nullify INEC’s declaration of the APC and Mr Okpebholo as winners of the contest.

The petitioners, among other things, contended that the governorship election was invalid because of alleged non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022 provisions.

However, APC and Mr Okpebholo urged the tribunal to dismiss the petitions for being baseless, arguing that the petitioners had failed to substantiate the allegations in their petitions.

(NAN)