The Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has reserved judgment in the case filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo, challenging the outcome of the state’s governorship election.

The three-member panel, led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, reserved judgment after legal representatives adopted their final written addresses.

Justice Kpochi stated that a date for the ruling would be communicated to the parties through the tribunal’s secretary.

At the resumed hearing, counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Kanu Agabi, urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition, arguing that it lacked merit. He contended that the petitioners had not sought the annulment of the election as one of their reliefs and that the number of polling unit agents presented as witnesses was too insignificant relative to the total number of polling units in Edo State.

Similarly, counsel for the governor, Onyechi Ikpeazu, described the petition as an academic exercise. He stated that, based on his team’s research, the polling units cited by the petitioners did not significantly alter the election outcome, as his client remained ahead in the overall vote count.

On the issue of Form EC25B, where the petitioners claimed serial numbers of sensitive materials were necessary, Ikpeazu argued that the form only required details of the quantity of electoral materials received and returned, not serial numbers. He further stated that the petitioners had failed to prove allegations of over-voting.

Responding, the petitioners’ counsel, Ken Moze, maintained that their complaint involved 765 out of the 4,519 polling units in the state. He insisted that the success of an election petition was not dependent on the percentage of polling units affected but on the substantive merit of the claims.

Moze further argued that the tribunal should assess the petition in its entirety rather than in isolated parts. He emphasised that all election results presented before the tribunal were tendered by the petitioners and dismissed the claim that they had failed to provide alternative results.

On why only five polling unit agents were called as witnesses, Moze explained that the crux of the petitioners’ case concerned irregularities at collation centres rather than polling units, making additional witnesses unnecessary.

He also refuted claims that the petitioners had merely dumped documents on the tribunal, stating that all tendered documents were duly certified by INEC and admitted without objection.

Moze concluded that the tribunal had jurisdiction to hear the case, as the allegations raised were not pre-election matters.

Following the submissions, Justice Kpochi reserved judgment to a date to be communicated to the parties in due course.

The PDP and its governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo, had approached the tribunal seeking the nullification of the election results on grounds of alleged non-compliance with the Electoral Act of 2022.