The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo, presented witnesses at the Edo State Governorship Election Tribunal to dispute the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Sen. Monday Okpebholo, as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Led by PDP counsel Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN, the witnesses cited irregularities in polling units across three local government areas.
One witness, Kennedy Osifo, PDP's collation officer for Ikpoba-Okha, tendered election results from 76 polling units, alleging discrepancies between agents' copies and BVAS accreditation reports obtained from INEC’s IREV portal. He claimed the final results were based on incorrect scores and urged the tribunal to adopt his testimony as evidence. Similar claims were made by Adebayo Ogedegbe for Akoko-Edo and Lucky Aroye for Owan West, who reported overvoting and unrecorded sensitive materials in their respective areas.
Counsel for INEC, the APC, and Sen. Okpebholo—Kalu Agabi, SAN, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, and Ijala, SAN, respectively—objected to the admissibility of the tendered documents but reserved their arguments for final written addresses. The tribunal, led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, provisionally admitted the documents as evidence.
Under cross-examination, the witnesses admitted their limited roles during the election, noting they were not polling unit agents but relied on collated results and personal observations. The tribunal adjourned the hearing to continue deliberations today.
