Edo election tribunal: PDP witnesses allege irregularities in three LGAs

Witnesses of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have alleged irregularities in three LGAs during the Edo state governorship election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Monday Okpebholo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the September 21, 2024 governorship election in the state.

Led in evidence by Abiodun Owonikoko, PDP counsel, Kennedy Osifo, a witness, told the tribunal on Tuesday that a careful comparison between results in the copies handed to party agents and results of the BVAS accreditation report obtained from the INEC’s IREV portal showed irregularities.

Osifo, who said that he was the PDP local government collation officer in the poll, alleged that INEC relied on incorrect scores to announce the final result of the election.

Osifo tendered agents’ copies of the election results for 76 polling units.

The polling units are in Ward II of Ikpoba Okha LGA, where he alleged four electoral irregularities.

He also prayed the court to adopt his witness statement on oath in which he highlighted the discrepancies.

When cross-examined, Osifo said his testimonies were based strictly on two documents, and not on contacts with the agents.

Another witness, Adebayo Ogedegbe, alleged cases of irregularities in 45 polling units across Akoko-Edo LGA where he was the party’s collation officer.

He alleged that INEC computed incorrect scores that negated the records in the certified true copies in 41 of these units.

The witness alleged over-voting in four other units, and sought to tender the agents’ copies of results of these units in evidence to corroborate his claims.

For Owan West LGA,  Lucky Aroye, a witness, tendered agents’ copies of results in nine units where he also alleged over-voting.

Aroye said that there were no prior recordings of sensitive materials in seven units of the LG, urging INEC to adopt his statement on oath as evidence in the case.

Asked if the witness was able to visit all the units in the local government as the collation officer, he said there was no way he could have done that, considering the huge number.

Meanwhile, all respondents’ counsels objected to the admissibility of the tendered documents.

The lawyers, however, reserved their grounds of objection for the final written addresses.

In his ruling, Wilfred Kpochi, chairman of the tribunal, temporarily admitted the documents tendered in evidence.