The Edo State Governor Election Petition Tribunal, chaired by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, sat in Abuja, dismissed a case filed by the Action Alliance AA to cancel the election of Governor Okpebholo on Monday.
The three-member panel believes that the petition submitted by the AA along with President Adekunle Rufai Omoaje lacks advantages. The court ruled that the petition involved pre-election issues, which lacked the necessary jurisdiction for entertainment conditions.
The petitioner, among other matters, excludes its legal candidates in the gubernatorial elections held on September 21, 2024. They claimed that, contrary to various court decisions, the electoral agency accepted and recognized a candidate not nominated by the party.
According to the petitioner, INEC failed to publish the party’s due gubernatorial candidates, which is very inconsistent with the provisions under Section 134(1)(b) of the Election Act.
More importantly, apart from the debate they believe that the majority of legitimate votes during the election were not guaranteed, except for the debates they believed were made by Governor Okpebholo APC, the progressive assembly, and the petitioners insisted that the exercise was harmed by corruption.
So they prayed for the ineffectiveness of the election, which the group refused on Wednesday.
The panel insisted on all preliminary objections raised to the petition.
All respondents, including INEC and Governor Okpebholo, questioned the petition’s ability, stressing that the AA’s president lost the locus because he did not participate in the governor’s poll, thus taking action on the action.
They also insist that the petition is illegal because it contains pre-election matters beyond the jurisdiction of the court.
It is worth recalling that AA candidate Mr. Tom Iseghhi-Okojie resigned from Governor Okpebholo’s resignation a few days before the governor’s election.
