The All Progressives Congress (APC), on Wednesday, opened its defence at the Edo State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja calling four witnesses.
Some of the witnesses, who gave evidence before the Justice Wilfred Kpochi-led three-member panel, agreed that incidents of over-voting were recorded in some polling units in the Local Government where they monitored the poll.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had closed its own defence of the governorship poll without producing any witness to testify before the tribunal.
INEC tendered before the tribunal, a total of 153 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVA) machines that were used in the 133 polling units where results of the election are disputed.
The electoral body equally tendered in evidence, a certified copy of result of the governorship election.
The commission had declared that Monday Okpebholo of the APC secured a total of 291, 667 votes to defeat his closet rivalry, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who got a total of 247, 655 votes.
Aggrieved by the outcome of the poll, the PDP and its candidate approached the tribunal, praying it to nullify INEC’s declaration of the APC and Okpebholo as winners of the contest.
The petitioners, among other things, contended that the governorship election was invalid by reason of alleged non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act.
They equally argued in the petition marked: EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, that Gov. Okpebholo of the APC did not secure the highest number of lawful votes that were cast at the election.
The petitioners had closed their case after calling 19 witnesses that testified and tendered several documents to prove their case.
Governor Okpebholo, who is the 2nd respondent in the petition, called a lone witness that testified on his behalf.
Meanwhile, the four witnesses called by the APC, the 3rd respondent, included those that served as APC’ Local Government Collation Agents, during the disputed election.
Led in evidence by Echezona Etiaba, SAN, the 1st witness, Afuda Theophilus Idemudia, a 54yrs businessman and resident of Benin City, said he monitored the election in Esan North East Local Government Area.
Idemudia identified his statement on oath, and told the tribunal that result of the election from Esan North East was signed by the agent of the PDP.
He confirmed to the tribunal that under Exhibit PCB-40, titled: Ballot Paper and Verification Statement, the Part A of the document was expected to be completed by an official of INEC before the opening of poll, while Part B was to be completed after the close of poll.
The witness noted that Page 6 of the Exhibit PCB-40 relates to Esan North East LGA, adding that it was indicated that the document was for governorship election.
He added that under Part A of the Exhibit, the first item required the serial number of the Ballot Papers that were issued to the polling units.
When handed a copy of the document to confirm, the witness, said: “Yes, I can see serial numbers recorded on this document. They are: 0459785 and 0460292.”
He maintained that serial numbers of Ballot Papers issued to the respective polling units were filled.
Under cross examination by lawyer to the petitioners, Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN, the witness admitted that there was an incident of over-voting in one of polling units in the LG.
When shown a copy of the result sheets, the witness confirmed that the total number of accredited voters in Unit 11, Ward 6, was 96.
He admitted that after the election, it was recorded that APC got 53 votes, PDP 43 and one rejected vote.
Upon a request by Owonikoko, the witness calculate the votes and told the tribunal that it amounted to 97 as against 96 persons that were accredited to vote at the polling unit.
He subsequently agreed that there was over-voting in the polling unit. He proceeded to say because of the development, the result was cancelled.
The 2nd witness, Kamarudeen Coker Bello, also 54 years, said he a businessman and lives in Ighara, Edo State.
He said he served as a Local Government agent of the APC in Akoko Edo LGA during the election.
The witness confirmed signing a written statement on oath before the tribunal on November 9, 2024, which he adopted on Tuesday, while being led by Etiaba.
Under cross examination by Owonikoko the witness confirmed that the petitioners raised allegations of over-voting in 17 polling units in the LGA in the petition.
The 3rd witness identified himself as Engr. Gabriel Iduseri and said he acted as APC’s Collation Agent for Oredo LGA.
Iduseri claimed that there was no complaint about the conduct of the election by agents of any of the political parties that participated in the contest.
The witness admitted that result from polling Unit 8, Ward 10, was cancelled at the Ward Collation Center due to over-voting.
The witness told the tribunal that it was the responsibility of the electoral officers to confirm the correctness or otherwise of results submitted at the LGA level.
When asked if he was aware that in the petition, there was a table of 53 and 66 polling units in Oredo LGA, where petitioners alleged that INEC recorded the results incorrectly, the witness replied that though he read the petition, he could not recall the number of the disputed polling units.
The 4th witness, Hon. Frank David, said he served as APC Collation Agent for Owan West LGA and that INEC officials diligently collated all the results from the polling units, saying neither himself nor any other agent raised any issue about the final result.
David said himself, the PDP and Labour Party (LP) agents signed result sheets of the election.
While being cross-examined, David said although he was aware that INEC officials ought to fill details of sensitive materials handed to them for the poll, he could not confirm if the procedure was followed since he did not serve as an official of INEC during the election.
When handed IReV report of Form EC8A of Ward 4 Unit 19, the witness confirmed that although only 36 persons were accredited, votes recorded for the unit were; 28, 1 and 8, amounting to 37.
He was also handed another exhibit containing the result from Ward 8, Unit 8 and he confirmed that the votes were; 54 and 25, amounting to 79, while 1 was marked as rejected vote, making it a total of 80 votes.
The witness claimed that result of the election from Unit 5 was not accounted for as they were cancelled owing to over-voting.
At the conclusion of David’s testimony, the lead lawyer to the APC, Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, announced that his client was preparing a schedule of documents it would tender when the proceedings resume.
The tribunal subsequently adjourned till Thursday.
