This has brought the Edo Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to another important stage because it has admitted more than one thousand pieces of the documents tendered by the People’s Democratic Party and the gubernatorial candidate of the party Dr. Asue Ighodalo challenging the victory of Monday Okpebholo, Senator in the governorship election in Edo State.
In the course of hearing the petition EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024 on January 17, 2025, sitting, the tribunal allowed in evidence, twenty-five core one thousand and four exhibits tendered by Ighodalo-led counsel notwithstanding the tirade from the respondent’s counsel. The main form of evidence comprises of Certified True Copy (CTC) of INEC declaration forms EC8A to and Local Government Area summary results for the September 21, 2024 governorship election.
As a lead counsel for the petitioner, Ken Mozia (SAN) noted that the verification of all the documents tabled before this court had been made in the presence of all the legal representatives and the registrar of the court. Such careful work was conducted before submitting the materials to the tribunal as evidence.
Respondents’ legal team; senior advocates of Nigeria Kanu Agabi (SAN) Onyechi Ikpeazu & VC Dewigwe for INEC & Senator Okpebholo in controversy raised objections to the admission of the documents. But the tribunal granted the petition of the respondents and all pieces of evidence are admissible in court.
This development has indeed marked an improvement in Ighodalo’s quest to unsettle INEC’s proclamation of Senator Monday Okpebholo as the winner of the Edo State governorship election. The admission of these documents has now opened the door for the petitioners to start presenting their other evidence in the form of oral evidence.
The admissibility of this extensive volume of documentary evidence identifies another phase in the electoral controversy resolution process, which may lead to a review of the outcome of the governorship elections and processes that mould the gubernatorial polls in the elections of September 2024 in Edo State.
The fact that the tribunal allowed the admissibility of all documentary means to be presented by both parties goes hand in hand with the determination to dissect the election results as the case unfolds.
