Politics

Edo guber: INEC presents more BVAS machines as PDP, Ighodalo close case at tribunal

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo, have officially closed their case at the tribunal in their petition challenging the outcome of the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State.

On Monday, the petitioners closed their case after presenting 19 witnesses who detailed alleged irregularities, particularly in the collation of votes at the ward and local government levels.

This move came after the presentation of five additional Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines, which were used during the election. The BVAS machines were tendered by Anthony Itodo, a Senior Technical Officer in the ICT Department of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

It is worth noting that last week, following a subpoena order by the tribunal’s three-member panel led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, INEC had already tendered 148 BVAS machines used in 133 polling units in the September 21 election.

The petitioners have grounded their challenge on the alleged wrongful computation of results during the collation process at both the ward and local government levels.

After presenting five witnesses on Friday, the tribunal adjourned to Monday to allow the petitioners to continue with their case against the declaration of All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Monday Okpebholo, as the winner of the election.

At the resumed hearing, the petitioners expressed satisfaction that they had sufficiently established their case, based on the testimonies of their witnesses and the documentary evidence submitted to the tribunal.

Lead counsel for the petitioners, Mr. Robert Emukpoeruo (SAN), informed the tribunal that they would be closing their case against the respondents. Although INEC, Okpebholo, and the APC raised objections to the admissibility of the five BVAS machines, the tribunal accepted them, reserving its ruling on their relevance to the case for later.

The tribunal has scheduled Wednesday for INEC to begin its defence.

In the disputed election, INEC declared Okpebholo of the APC the winner, with 291,667 votes, while PDP’s Ighodalo came second with 247,655 votes.

The PDP and Ighodalo, dissatisfied with the election result, approached the tribunal to nullify INEC’s declaration, arguing that Okpebholo did not secure the highest number of lawful votes and that the election was marred by non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

PDP’s Edo State Chairman, Chief Anthony Aziegbemin, expressed confidence that the petitioners had made a strong case.

“We believe the case is straightforward, documentary-based, and specific. We’ve provided all the evidence needed, and we expect the judiciary to consider it carefully,” Aziegbemin said.

He also raised concerns about INEC’s objection to the admissibility of documents it had previously certified.

“It’s strange that INEC is objecting to documents it itself certified to the petitioners for tendering in court. This raises questions, and we hope the tribunal will examine this closely,” Aziegbemin added.

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