In less than 24 hours after beckoning on parties to appear before it, alleged certified true copies of a purported judgment by the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal have surfaced online, sparking widespread controversy. The authenticity of these documents cannot be confirmed as at news time by Citizen Rapporteur.
The trio member tribunal, headed by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, had on 3rd March reserved judgment in the petition brought before it by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo, doubting the outcome of the September 21, 2024, governorship election in the state.
On Tuesday, the tribunal directed all parties to appear before it on Wednesday for the official ruling. However, in a shocking turn of events, leaked copies of these sensitive documents allegedly containing the tribunal’s verdict began circulating online, indicating a split decision among the judges.
The authorship of the leaked documents can be traced to Vanguard NewsPaper. Meanwhile, the allegedly leaked documents had however revealed that the duo of the tribunal chairman Justice Kpochi and Justice A.B. Yusuf dismissed the petition and upheld the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo. However, the third member of the panel, Justice A.A. Adewole, reportedly dissented by ruling in favor of Ighodalo. It was his decision that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) be directed to issue him a fresh Certificate of Return as the rightful winner of the election.
In the alleged minority judgment, Justice Adewole held that Okpebholo’s election was invalid due to “non-substantial compliance” with the Electoral Act. He asserted that Okpebholo was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes and declared his return null and void.
“The petitioners’ case was not rebutted and demonstrated, unit by unit, how the actual total should be 243,113 votes for Ighodalo, while the 2nd Respondent’s tally should stand at 210,326 votes—a clear reversal of the declared result,” the leaked document quoted Justice Adewole as saying.
However, the lead judgment, reportedly delivered by Justice Kpochi, ruled that while there was evidence of non-compliance—particularly regarding Section 73(2) (failure to record serial numbers in EC 25B) and Section 51(2) (over-voting)—the petitioners failed to prove that these irregularities substantially affected the outcome of the election, as required under Section 135(1) of the Electoral Act.
“On the issue of the majority of lawful votes, the petitioners established instances of incorrect collation and exclusion of results. However, their mathematical and documentary evidence did not conclusively establish that the margin of lead was overtaken or that they scored the highest number of lawful votes,” the ruling stated.
While alluding to Supreme Court decisions in Oyetola v. Adeleke (2023) and Atiku v. INEC (2023), the tribunal held that the petitioners failed to prove that non-compliance occurred at a scale significant enough to alter the election results.
“The petitioners ought to have tied every complaint to figures, demonstrated the net effect of each infraction, and shown that, but for the violations, the outcome would have changed. We find that the petitioners have not discharged the dual burden to the satisfaction of the law. Accordingly, the petition lacks merit and is hereby dismissed,” the document further read.
INEC had declared that Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the election with 291,667 votes, defeating Ighodalo of the PDP, who secured 247,655 votes.
Dissatisfied with the results, the PDP and Ighodalo petitioned the tribunal, arguing that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act. In petition EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, they contended that Governor Okpebholo did not win the highest number of lawful votes and alleged that INEC failed to properly serialize and pre-record some sensitive electoral materials, which they claimed facilitated rigging in favor of the APC.
The official judgment from the tribunal is expected to be delivered on Wednesday, but the alleged leak has already sparked heated debate and speculation.
