BY ANTHONY OCHELA, ABUJA
Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, on Friday in Abuja, continued hearing on the petition filed by Dr. Asue Ighodalo and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the September 2024 election.
During the day’s sitting, the Tribunal chaired by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, heard five witnesses who in their testimonies, alleged discrepancies and over-voting in some polling units.
Led in evidence by petitioners’ counsel, Rotimi Ogunesan (SAN), Haruna Ibrahim, a 34-year-old businessman from Sabo Quarter, Auchi, testified that he was an accredited voter during the election.
He confirmed signing his witness statement and urged the tribunal to adopt it as evidence.
Ibrahim identified key electoral documents, including screenshots of polling unit results, BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) reports, and Form EC8B for Ward 8.
While the respondents objected to the admissibility of some documents, the tribunal admitted them but reserved its ruling on their final admissibility.
Under cross-examination, counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Kanu Agabi (SAN), questioned Ibrahim’s role in the election process.
When asked if he signed Form EC8A, the primary result sheet, Ibrahim said he did so only to obtain a copy for his party.
Agabi pressed further, asking if the word “BVAS” appeared on the document or if Ibrahim made entries into the BVAS machine, to which he replied in the negative but also admitted not submitting any formal protest regarding irregularities.
Counsel to Governor Okpebholo, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), questioned the reliability of the petitioner’s claim of over-voting. He asked Ibrahim to examine the ward collation result, specifically column 7, where the witness insisted that over-voting had occurred.
However, Ikpeazu pointed out that the reconciled results did not indicate over-voting.
Another witness, Okuo Taiye Esther, a farmer from Igara, Akoko-Edo, also testified, urging the court to adopt her written statement. Counsels to some respondents, opposed correcting parts of her statement, but the tribunal reserved its ruling.
Esther confirmed submitting extracts from the BVAS machine as evidence. However, Agabi (SAN) challenged her connection to the documents, noting that her name and signature did not appear on them. When asked why she did not sign Form EC8A, she claimed she refused due to over-voting.
During cross-examination, Ikpeazu (SAN) asked her to verify the total number of votes from her polling unit. She insisted that the figures on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) were incorrect, arguing that the valid votes should have totaled 229, not 228. She also claimed that spoiled ballots were not counted.
Counsel to APC, D.C. Denwigwe (SAN), questioned whether Esther had verified Form EC8B (the ward result) before alleging over-voting. She maintained that over-voting had occurred but admitted she could not confirm whether the ward collation figures matched polling unit records.
Others who testified include Abubakar Uzairu of Owan East LGA, a teacher; Asuluka Righteousness of Akoko-Edo LGA, a Commercial Motorcyclist and Mutairu Yusuf, of Agbede, a farmer and politician who all alleged that the governorship election in their polling units where they served as agents were marred by over voting and the results should be dismissed.
During the course of proceedings, the tribunal admitted several documents as exhibits but reserved judgment on objections raised by the respondents regarding their admissibility.
After listening to the last witness of the day at about 6:45pm, the tribunal subsequently adjourned to February 3 for continuation of hearing.
