Edo election tribunal admits 1,004 documents from Ighodalo, PDP

The Edo Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Benin on Friday admitted 1,004 documents tendered before it by Dr. Asue Ighodalo, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the election.

Recall that the candidate and his party are challenging the conduct of the election as well as the declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Monday Okpebholo, as winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Ken Mozia, counsel to the petitioner, tendered the documents at the resumed hearing of the petition.

The 1,004 documents tendered were all admitted as exhibits by the three-man tribunal chaired by Justice Wilfred Kpochi.

The documents included the Certified True Copies (CTC) of INEC declaration of results forms EC8A-E and Local Government Areas summary of results used for the conduct of the September 21, 2024 Governorship Election in the State.

Also tendered are Certified True Copies of Form EC8Cs, covering the 18 local government areas in the state.

Certified True Copies (CTC) of Forms EC8B (Wards Results Sheets) used for the conduct of the election in the 192 Wards in the state were also tendered in support of the petitioners’ cases.

The petitioners further tendered in evidence 320 Certified True Copies of Form EC8A documents (polling unit results sheets).

Others tendered by the petitioners are 318 CTCs of INEC’s Polling Units Booklets, each containing Form EC25D, and 58 CTCs of Forms EC8A (IREV).

At the tendering of the documents, Mozia said the verification of the over 1,004 documents was duly done in the presence of the lawyers of the parties and the tribunal registrar.

Despite the objection to the admissibility of the documents by respondents’ counsel, including Kanu Agabi, SAN, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, and VC Dewigwe, the tribunal admitted them as exhibits.

The respondents’ counsel said they would be giving reasons for the objections to the petitioners’ CTC documents at the final address of the petition.

The Justice Wilfred Kpochi-led tribunal, however, provisionally admitted all the documents tendered in evidence and marked them as exhibits.

“Learned counsel to the respondents shall state their reasons for their objections at the address stage,” Justice Kpochi said.

The tribunal, however, adjourned to Saturday, January 18, 2025, for the continuation of hearing, as the petitioners are expected to tender more documents in support of their petitions.

Following the admission of the documentary evidence, the Petitioners, Dr. Asue Ighodalo and the PDP, would proceed to lead oral evidence in support of the petitions.