The Edo Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday threw out the petition instituted by the Action Alliance (AA) and one Adekunle Rufai Omoaje, challenging the election of Gov. Monday Okpebholo.
In the first judgment of the tribunal, it held that the case instituted by the AA “lacked merit and was frivolous”
Among other points, the Tribunal held that Omoaje did not participate in the governorship election and, as such, had no power to question the validity of the election.
The Tribunal also held that Omoaje’s grievance against the election was that he was not recognized as the National Chairman of the Action Alliance for the purpose of nominating candidates for the poll. However, it was held that his claims had no basis in the Electoral Act of 2022.
Omoaje had, in the petition, asked the Tribunal to declare the declaration of Okpebholo and APC as winners of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as illegal, unlawful, unconditional, and null and void due to non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
He also alleged corruption and that Okpebholo and APC did not win the majority of lawful votes in the election.
Omoaje further alleged that AA was not allowed to nominate a lawful governorship candidate for the election, having not signed the nomination form as the National Chairman of the party.
INEC had declared Okpebholo of the APC as the winner with 291,667 votes, defeating his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 247,655 votes in the election.
