Olusegun Ariyo
Governor Monday Okpebholo and the All-Progressives Congress (APC) have won round one in the series of petitions challenging their declaration as winners of the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State.
A petition instituted against them by the Action Alliance (AA) and one Adekunle Rufai Omoaje was thrown out by the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal for lacking merit and being frivolous.
In the first judgment of the Tribunal on Wednesday, it was held that Adekunle Rufai Omoaje, who filed the joint petition, had no locus standi to institute the case, as his petition was not based on election-related matters.
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 to nominate 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.
