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Monday Okpebholo and Asue Ighodalo
The All Progressives Congress on Wednesday opened its defence by presenting four witnesses before the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja.
The witnesses, who served as local government collation agents, admitted under cross-examination that there were incidents of over-voting during the September 21, 2024, governorship election.
The Peoples Democratic Party and its governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo, are challenging the election results in which the Independent National Electoral Commission declared the APC candidate, Monday Okpebholo, as the winner.
Aggrieved by the declaration, the PDP and Ighodalo filed a petition against INEC, Okpebholo, and the APC as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respondents, respectively.
During the tribunal session, APC witnesses from Esan North East, Akoko Edo, Oredo, and Owan West Local Government Areas testified. Under cross-examination, they made significant admissions about over-voting in the election.
Afuda Theophilus a businessman and APC collation agent for Esan North East initially denied over-voting in his witness statement.
However, under cross-examination by the petitioner’s counsel, Mr. A. J. Owonikoko (SAN), he admitted to over-voting in his polling unit.
When confronted with discrepancies in the election documents, Theophilus acknowledged the irregularities, stating, “Yes, but to prove over-voting, you will also need the BVAS report.”
He added that INEC cancelled the results from polling units where over-voting occurred.
Engr. Gabriel Iduseri, an APC collation agent for Oredo LGA, initially claimed there were no complaints about the conduct of the election but afterwards admitted that results from Unit 8, Ward 10, were cancelled at the Ward Collation Center due to over-voting.
He further stated that the cancelled results were not included in the figures collated and announced by INEC.
Kamarudeen Bello, a collation agent for APC in Akoko Edo LGA, maintained there was no over-voting in his area.
Frank David, a businessman and an APC collation agent for Owan West, said that the results in his area were correctly collated.
He, however, under cross-examination, admitted to over-voting which led to result cancellations. He confirmed being present throughout the collation process at Owan West but stated he could not verify whether INEC officials followed all procedures for documenting sensitive election materials.
Meanwhile, after the fourth witness stepped out of the witness box, the APC counsel prayed the tribunal for an adjournment, stating that, “The next set of witnesses will rely on documents that have not yet been tendered.
He said, “We are preparing a schedule of witnesses and documents, which will be shared with the petitioners’ team later this evening. We will return tomorrow to tender the documents and call the next set of witnesses.”
The APC also confirmed plans to present a total of 28 witnesses in defence of Okpebholo’s victory.
In response, petitioners’ counsel noted that only four witnesses had been called so far from the list of 28 provided to them the previous day. They sought clarity on whether the remaining witnesses would appear or if new documents would be introduced.
“My Lord, this clarification is essential for us to prepare appropriately for tomorrow,” they stated.
APC, however, assured them there would be no surprises as all important details and documents would be made available to them beforehand.
The tribunal granted the APC’s request and adjourned further hearings until Thursday.
