Appeal Court Reserves Judgements in PDP, AA, AP Appeals against Okpebholo’s Victory

•Edo high court nullifies impeachment of Etsako West LG chair, deputy

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City and Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Court of Appeal has reserved judgements in three appeals against the judgements of the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which affirmed the election of All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, as Governor of Edo State.

The three appeals were those filed by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo; Action Alliance (AA) and its National Chairman, Rufai Omoaje; and Accord Party (AP) and its candidate, Dr. Bright Enabulele.

Besides the three appeals, the appellate court, on a date not yet disclosed, would also deliver judgement on a cross appeal filed by the governor challenging some aspects of the tribunal’s decision in the case of Ighodalo and PDP.

In another development, an Edo State High Court in Auchi invalidated the impeachment of Zibiri Muhizu Marvelous and Benji Ojietu from their positions as Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Etsako West Local Government Area, respectively.

A three-member panel of the court, presided over by Justice M. A. Danjuma, announced the decision to reserve the judgements yesterday, shortly after lawyers representing parties adopted and argued their final addresses for and against the appeals.

Damjuma, told the lawyers that their verdicts would be made known on a date that would be communicated to them.

The appellants in their respective appeals marked: CA/ABJ/EPT/ED/GOV/01/2025; CA/ABJ/EPT/ED/GOV/02/2025; and CA/ABJ/EPT/ED/GOV/03/2025), sought a reversal of the tribunal’s judgement for allegedly being perverse in law.

Okpebholo and APC also filed a cross appeal marked: CA/ABJ/EPT/ED/GOV/04/2025) against part of the judgment in the case against the PDP and Ighodalo.

In arguing the appeals, lawyers to the appellants prayed the court to allow their appeals and reverse the judgements of the election tribunal delivered on April 2, while lawyers to the respondents urged the court to affirm the judgements by the tribunal and dismiss the appeals.

The governor’s lead counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, in the PDP case stated that the appellants failed to prove their allegations that the election was marred by irregularities.

The senior lawyer pointed out that the appellants conceded at the tribunal that if the votes, which they claimed were wrongly added, were deducted, Okpebholo and APC still scored the majority votes.

In addition, Ikpeazu argued that as against the claim by the appellants that the serial numbers of the ballot papers were not filled on the Form EC25B, the form actually did not contain any provision for the recording of serial number. He added that what was provided for in the Form EC25B were spaces for the imputation of information about the quantity of materials received and quantity of materials returned.

On the Form EC40A, which the appellants tendered at the tribunal, Ikpeazu stated that the serial numbers of the ballot papers were clearly indicated, stating further that while the appellants pleaded Form EC25D in their petition, they failed to tender the forms before the tribunal.

APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) also urged the court to dismiss the appeal and affirm the judgement of the election tribunal.

Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), who argued the case of APC, submitted that the position of the law had not changed, even with the introduction of Sections 73(2) and 137 of the Electoral Act 2022 that a petitioner alleging any form of non-compliance must call witnesses from all the affected polling units to prove the allegations.

“Where there is improper collation, you still need to call witnesses polling unit by polling unit,” Ukala said.

But Ighodalo and PDP, through their lead counsel, Robert Emukpoeruo, SAN, urged the court to allow the appeal and set aside the judgement of the tribunal.

Emukpoeruo argued that, in relation to the appellants’ allegations of non-compliance, the tribunal failed to appreciate the nature of the non-compliance complained about.

Emukpoeruo stated that his clients did not challenge the conduct of the election, but the conflict in the results collated and announced. He added that it was part of his clients’ contention that the results collated at the ward level were not the results declared at the polling units.

Edo High Court Nullifies Impeachment of Etsako West LG Chairman, Vice Chairman

A High Court in Auchi invalidated the impeachment of Zibiri Muhizu Marvelous and Benji Ojietu as Chairman and Vice Chairman of Etsako West Local Government Area, respectively.

Justice O. M. Obayuwana declared the impeachment proceedings null and void, highlighting failure to comply with Section 19 of the Edo State Local Government Law 2000 (as amended in 2002).

The court found that the respondents did not provide sufficient evidence of meeting the necessary statutory requirements, which included the formation of a seven-member panel to investigate the claimants, a review of findings by the Edo State House of Assembly, and the proper service of impeachment notice to the claimants.

To that end, the court ruled that the impeachment of Marvelous and Ojietu was illegal, null, and void.

Additionally, the court mandated the following: the Inspector General of Police to ensure the claimants’ protection as they return to their office, a perpetual injunction against the respondents from interfering with the claimants’ responsibilities, and the payment of N1 million each by the respondents to the claimants as compensation.