In order to support their assertion that Sen. Monday Okpebholo, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), did not win the election as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate for the governorship election in Edo State on September 21, 2024, Asue Ighodalo, called witnesses yesterday.
Witness Kennedy Osifo, who was led in testimony by PDP attorney Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN, presented copies of the election results for 76 polling stations in Ward II of the state’s Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area, where he claimed four electoral abnormalities.
He informed the tribunal that when the certified true copies of the BVAS accreditation report results from INEC’s IREV portal were compared to the agents’ copies, anomalies were found.
He emphasized these differences in his oath-taking witness statement, which he urged the tribunal to use as evidence in the case.
Osifo claimed to be the PDP local government polling officer and claimed that INEC used erroneous results to declare the election’s outcome.
Osifo claimed during cross-examination that his statements were solely supported by the two documents and not by conversations with the agents.
Adebayo Ogedegbe, who testified that the INEC had calculated erroneous scores that invalidated the records in the certified true copies, informed the tribunal of irregularities in 45 units throughout the state’s Akoko-Edo Local Government Area. He also claimed to be the local government’s party collation officer.
Lucky Aroye presented copies of the results from nine units in the Owan West Local Government Area, claiming that overvoting occurred.
Aroye demanded that the tribunal accept his oath-taken statement as evidence in the case, claiming that there were no previous recordings of sensitive material in seven local government units.
The attorneys for the INEC, Okpebholo, and the APC, Kalu Agabi, SAN, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, and Ijala, SAN, respectively, contested the admission of the submitted papers, but they saved their arguments for the final written addresses.
In his decision, the tribunal’s chairman, Justice Wilfred Kpochi, declared that the documents were provisionally accepted into evidence.
In his testimony, the first petitioner’s witness from Ikpoba-Okha stated that his only responsibility was to watch and personally review the results in a “situation room.” He denied being an agent at any polling places or wards or actively participating in the election process.
The PW2 from the Akoko-Edo council claimed that although he was neither a ward or polling unit agent, he managed the results from 10 wards and 241 polling places in a single day.
During cross-examination, PW1 acknowledged that the situation room did not have the sensitive BIVAS materials for inspection.
The hearing was postponed till today by the tribunal.