Drama As Star Witness Storms Edo Governorship Tribunal, Exposes INEC Failures, Okpebholo’s Disputed Victory

The Edo Governorship Election Petition Tribunal resumed today in Abuja, revealing startling claims from the PDP’s key witness, PW12.

The witness exposed widespread irregularities in the September 21, 2024, governorship election and challenged the validity of INEC’s declaration of Monday Okpebholo as the winner.

PW12, a data analyst and director of research and strategy for the petitioner, Barr. Asue Ighodalo, based his testimony on a forensic review of election documents, such as BVAS accreditation reports, IREV results, agent duplicate copies of results, and certified copies of INEC forms.

Read Also: FIJ Investigation Exposes How Edo Governorship Election Was Rigged For APC

He presented evidence of over-voting and errors in result collation across 445 polling units. Additionally, he highlighted invalid results in 320 polling units, citing INEC’s failure to adhere to section 2.3.6 of its own election manual.

The witness referenced the manual, stating that INEC is required to record the serial numbers of sensitive election materials, including result sheets and BVAS machines, in Form EC25B before distributing them.

“My Lord, this requirement was also spelt out in the Electoral Act. Their failure to fill out these forms renders the results from 320 polling units invalid,” he stated.

The tension in the Tribunal increased as the respondents’ lawyers tried to discredit the testimony.

During cross-examination by APC’s lawyer, E.U. Ukala, the witness was questioned about whether INEC had uploaded all polling unit results to the IReV portal.

His response was swift and pointed: “That is patently false, my Lord. INEC uploaded only 4,466 out of 4,519 results. They failed to upload 53 polling unit results, so your statement is incorrect.”

Attempts by the respondents’ lawyers to challenge the witness’s credibility backfired when they claimed he couldn’t speak authoritatively on polling unit results since he was not physically present at the locations.

The witness calmly countered: “My Lord, as director of research and strategy Inset up the 1st petitioner’s situation room so I collected and stored the results. Besides, counsel earlier referred to 16 agent polling unit results, noting that three were not stamped. Counsel was not at any polling unit either, yet his review revealed inconsistencies. Similarly, my findings are based on a comprehensive examination of documents that clearly show over-voting, missing mandatory forms, and improper collation in a total of 765 polling units.”

The witness’s statement that “Barr. Ighodalo won the election—this fact is available to anyone with access to the documents” visibly unsettled the respondents’ lawyers.

A brief moment of drama occurred when the APC’s lawyer questioned the authenticity and certification date of the BVAS reports.

In response, the witness explained that the documents were generated on the day of the election, months before certified extracts were obtained from INEC earlier this month, causing the lawyer to abruptly end his cross-examination.

The Tribunal adjourned proceedings until January 30, 2025.

However, the mood among the PDP camp, led by Edo PDP Chairman Anthony Aziegbemin, was celebratory as they hailed the strong performance of their key witness.

Notable APC figures present included Pastor Ize-Iyamu and former Edo State deputy governor Philip Shaibu.

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