On Wednesday, the Edo Governorship Election Petition Tribunal will deliver judgment in the petition filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, against the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State.

New Telegraph recalls that the PDP and Ighodalo are challenging the declaration of Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the poll.

INEC announced that Okpebholo secured a total of 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ighodalo of the PDP, who got a total of 247,655 votes.

Dissatisfied with the outcome of the poll, the PDP and its candidate approached the tribunal, praying it to nullify INEC’s declaration of the APC and Okpebholo as winners of the contest

The party and its candidate alleged that the election was marred by irregularities.

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It would be recalled that the three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, had, on March 3, reserved judgment in the petition after the parties adopted their final written addresses.

The tribunal will deliver judgment in the three petitions marked EPT/ED/GOV/01/2024, EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024 and EPT/ED/GOV/03/2024.

Also, the tribunal had, on January 31, admitted in evidence 148 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System Machines that were used during the conduct of the disputed governorship poll.

The electronic devices were tendered by a Senior Technical Officer in the ICT Department of INEC, Anthony Itodo, and admitted into evidence by the panel.

The petitioners had subpoenaed INEC to produce the BVAS machines that were used in 133 polling units where election results are being disputed.

However, petitioners, among other things, contended that the governorship election was invalid because of alleged non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.