{"id":93519,"date":"2025-04-02T22:04:53","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T22:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=93519"},"modified":"2025-04-02T22:04:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T22:04:53","slug":"tribunal-endorses-okpebholo-ighodalo-goes-on-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=93519","title":{"rendered":"Tribunal endorses Okpebholo, Ighodalo goes on appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Edo\u00a0 Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has dismissed the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Mr Asue Ighodalo, challenging the outcome of the Sept. 21, 2024\u00a0 governorship election.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Ighodalo says he has instructed his lawyers to head up to Court of Appeal. <\/span>\u201dI have, therefore, instructed my legal team to proceed to the Court of Appeal to challenge this decision, which we consider a huge travesty of justice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201dThis is not about me or any single individual; it is about the very essence of democracy, the preservation of our collective right to freely determine our future, and the legacy we leave for generations unborn,\u201d he said in a statement after the tribunal’s verdict.<\/span><\/p>\n

Delivering judgment on Wednesday in Abuja, the tribunal upheld the election of Gov. Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with 291,667 votes, defeating Ighodalo who polled 247,655 votes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The three-member tribunal dismissed the petitioners\u2019 petition on the grounds that they failed to prove their allegation of over voting.<\/span><\/p>\n

The tribunal also held that the petitioners failed to call competent witnesses to speak to documentary evidence they brought to the tribunal.<\/span><\/p>\n

This the justices said amounted to dumping of documents on the trubunal as they could not prove how the documents led to their allegations of over voting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ighodalo, in his statement urged his supporters to remain peaceful.<\/span><\/p>\n

His words: \u201dAs an avowed democrat, I respect the judiciary as the last hope of the common man, and I urge all of you, our dear good people of Edo State, to remain peaceful, calm and law-abiding in the aftermath of this Judgement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201dHowever, let it be clear: this is not the end of our journey, but the beginning of a greater struggle for justice, democracy, and the sanctity of the people\u2019s mandate freely conferred on my running mate, Barr. Osarodion Ogie and I are on the platform of our great Party, the People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201dWhile we all may not agree with the verdict, we, however, remain steadfast in our belief that the rule of law must remain the bedrock of our democracy. Our pursuit of justice in this regard is an affirmation of our firm belief that the right of the good people of Edo State to freely choose their leaders through a credible, free and fair electoral process must never be compromised…<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201dFrom the very beginning, your massive show of support, sincere love and belief in our shared vision for a prosperous Edo State have been the driving force behind this journey\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201dFor us, it has never been about the realisation of a personal ambition but about our conviction to create a clear Pathway to Prosperity for all Edo People while upholding the foundational values of democracy, justice, and the will of the people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201dWe remain resolute. We remain committed. And we shall not waver in our pursuit of truth and justice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25cf Additional report by NAN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Edo\u00a0 Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has dismissed the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Mr Asue Ighodalo, challenging the outcome of the Sept. 21, 2024\u00a0 governorship election. But Ighodalo says he has instructed his lawyers to head up to Court of Appeal. \u201dI have, therefore, instructed my legal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":92358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[222,7021,6882],"class_list":["post-93519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-politics","tag-appeal","tag-ighodalo","tag-okpebholo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/92358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}