IF A GREATER EDO IS OUR SHARED DREAMS....? ~Ukato Thomas.

IF A GREATER EDO IS OUR SHARED DREAMS....?

~Ukato Thomas.

Yesterday, April 2nd, 2025, The Edo State gubernatorial election petition tribunal sitting in the National Judicial Institute, Abuja, gave its judgment, which many brilliant and nonpartisan legal minds have described as sound, lauding it as thorough and exhaustive. In a unanimous judgment, the three-member panel of Justices led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi held that the petitioners failed to prove their case and subsequently dismissed and trashed all the grounds for the petitions for lack of merit due to the want of substantiating evidence.

The verdict of the tribunal comes after months of heated legal fireworks, with the main petitioner/contender, Asue Ighodaro, and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) trying to upturn the September 21st, 2024 election of His Excellency, Sen. Monday Okpebholo, Governor of Edo State, on the grounds of over voting, none compliance to electoral law, BVAS, inflation of results and sundry allegations.

However, as it is said in legal parlance, the burden of proof lies on whom that alleges. This is what the petitioner failed to do, leading to the summary dismissal of the case and the explicit affirmation of the electoral victory of Sen Monday Okpebholo.

With the benefit of hindsight, in the several months leading to the conduct of the Edo State off-cycle gubernatorial election, the good people of the "heartbeat" of the Nation were inundated by contending political parties and their candidates with beautiful campaign rhetorics, catchy advertorial slogans and signages, melodious jingles, and lofty promises of a better, greater and prosperous Edo when given the chance to straddle the saddle of governance in Edo State. Their campaigns highlighted a shared vision of an Edo State that can maximize its full potential when managed properly.

Furthermore, against the backdrop of these beautiful promises, and a critical assessment of the candidates' antecedents, the "unspoken words" and the prevailing realities at the time, the Edo electorate went to the polls and found Sen. Monday Okpebholo worthy of their votes for being more suitable for the job due to the tested and trusted imbuement of emotional intelligence as a defining pivot of his personality and the simplicity of his lifestyle. He was duly elected.

In the few months of his nascent administration, Edo State has been repositioned on a trajectory of accelerated growth. Sen. Monday Okpebholo has shown that he is in a hurry to develop the Edo landscape, right the wrongs of the previous administration, improve on some of its positive policies, and set the State for improved functionality in all sectors of the economy while speedily fulfilling all his campaign promises through practical governance.. 

The worst of the hitherto naysayers who refused to be blinded by the veil of partisan politics are now admitting that Sen. Monday Okpebholo is, indeed, doing well. He has literally turned the State into a huge construction site. This is the unfolding of the greater Edo dream, a shared vision of our collective progress which the likes of Dr. Asue Ighodaro of the PDP subscribed to, campaigned with, and been birthed by the Man fondly called "Akpakomiza."

If the desire of Asue Ighodaro to serve the Edo people as Governor of the State is truly anchored on patriotism and the shared vision to usher in a multi-sectoral accretion in the State, then he should take the Olive branch extended by Sen. Monday Okpebholo in the latter's tribunal verdict speech calling on his contenders/petitioners to join him in the task of building a State that will stand out in the comity of States as a reference point for excellence. After all, Sen. Okpebholo seems to have broken the existing records of Four months performance in office as Governor, and he is looking set to smash even more.

If a greater Edo is our shared dream, Asue Ighodaro is urged to join Sen. Monday Okpebholo on the task of making this dream a reality. Although it is within his constitutional rights to explore all Judicial options left aimed at seeking redress at the appellate and supreme courts, that would however, amount to a case of puerile grandstanding and a waste of resources that could be better deployed into philanthropy. 

The verdict of the tribunal has placed the petition in a dead end; it has ordinarily foreclosed further litigation. 

Given that fresh evidence is not admissible in the Appeal and Supreme Courts, Asue Ighodaro should eat the humble pie and throw in the trowel.

A New Edo has risen to SHINE!

_Ukato Thomas, a writer, researcher, and progressivist writes from Uhunmwode, Edo State_

Info; tommyukato@gmail.com.