Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, on Monday in Abuja, opened and closed his case at the Edo Governorship Election Petition Tribunal calling only one witness.
At the resumed hearing, the lead counsel to Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), told the tribunal that the business of the day was for his client to open his case.
The witness, Usman Majek, who is a farmer, told the tribunal that he was a polling unit agent of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) during the 21 September 2024, governorship election.
Under cross-examination, the witness agreed that there was overvoting in his polling unit. He also said that, in his unit, accreditation and voting took place simultaneously.
Majek told the tribunal that he complained to the Police and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) about the result he entered on the result sheet after he signed it.
Under cross examination regarding alleged multiple voting in Ovia South West Local Government Area (LGA) (the home LGA of incumbent Deputy Governor, Hon. Dennis Idahosa) admitted to instances of over-voting in the area. The admission did not go down well with the respondents (Okpebholo’s supporters in court) as it directly contradicted earlier claims by the APC that the election in the area was free and fair.
Subsequently, the governor’s legal team did not field the remaining witnesses on their list, bringing their defence to an abrupt end.
After Majek’s testimony, Ikpeazu applied to close the defence of his client.
The third respondent (APC), represented by their counsel, Emanuel Ukala (SAN) moved for an adjournment, to be given more time to open their own defence and call witnesses.
The tribunal granted the application especially as there was no objection from the other counsel. The tribunal adjourned proceedings until Wednesday for the APC to open its case.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, had approached the tribunal praying it to invalidate the outcome of the governorship election.
The petitioners had sought the invalidation of the governorship election on the grounds of alleged non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022.
They further contended that Okpebholo did not secure the highest number of majority votes cast in that election.
At the resumed hearing of the petition on Monday, counsels to second respondent(Okpebholo), led by Ikpeazu, were billed to present six witnesses in defence of multiple claims of over-voting, non-serialisation of electoral materials and incorrect computation of results by INEC in favour of APC that allegedly characterised the election.
