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The appeal contesting the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) win in the Edo State gubernatorial election on September 21, 2024, was concluded on Thursday.

The closure was unexpected because it happened the day after the APC, the third respondent in the case that the PDP, the People’s Democratic Party, and its candidate, Mr. Asue Ighodalo, called in four witnesses to testify about the governorship elections.

Recall that on Wednesday, the three-member panel headed by Justice Wilfred Kpochi postponed the trial until Thursday in order to give the APC the opportunity to provide some papers that it said the remaining witnesses would need to provide testimony.

In order to defend its win in the Edo gubernatorial election on September 21, the APC informed the court that it would bring 28 witnesses.

In order to call its remaining witnesses, who it claimed would be depending on documents that had not yet been submitted to the tribunal, the APC requested an adjournment to Thursday after calling four witnesses on Wednesday.

Chief Ferdinand Orbih, SAN, the attorney for the APC, told the court when the case was brought up on Thursday that the party is still awaiting documents from Benin City that its witnesses will use as evidence.

However, he declared that the APC would be concluding its case due to the large number of documents that were produced, the petitioners’ testimony during the respondents’ cross-examination as well as its evidence, have already done justice to its case and makes it unnecessary to call further witnesses.

“Taking all the enumerated factors into consideration, we are happy at this stage to close the 3rd respondent’s case, with the leave of my Lordships,” Orbih submitted.

In a brief order, Justice Kpochi approved the request because the petitioners did not raise any objections, and he set March 3 as the day for the parties to adopt their final written addresses in the case.

The tribunal ordered the petitioners to answer within five days of receiving the processes, even though the respondents had seven days to file and serve their defense. It further stated that the respondents might react within three days to a legal point.

In the September 21, 2024, Edo State governorship election, Okpebholo of the APC was proclaimed the victor by INEC after he received 291,667 votes, defeating his nearest opponent, Asue Ighodalo of the PDP, who received 247,655 votes.

Disappointed with the poll’s results, the PDP and its candidate went to the tribunal, pleading with it to overturn INEC’s announcement that the APC and Okpebholo had won.

Among other reasons, the petitioners argued that the governorship election was void due to purported violations of the Electoral Act.

In the EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024 appeal, they also contended that Okpebholo of the APC did not receive the most legitimate votes cast during the election.

While INEC, the first respondent, did not call any witnesses aside from tendering 153 of the Bimodal Verification Accreditation System (BVAS) used in 133 polling units where results are being contested, the petitioners had called in 19 witnesses to demonstrate that over-voting and incorrect vote computation actually took place in over 700 polling units during the conduct of the Edo State governorship election.

The APC called four witnesses before concluding their case, whilst the second respondent, Governor Monday Okpebholo, only summoned one.

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