UPDATED: Supreme Court affirms Okpebholo as Edo gov 

The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Thursday dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Mr Asue Ighodalo, challenging the declaration of Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor of Edo State. 

The apex court held in its unanimous judgment that Ighodalo and the PDP failed to establish the non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022 and over-voting, which they alleged in their petition.

According to the Supreme Court, it found no reason to set aside the concurrent judgments of both the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which returned Okpebholo as the valid winner of the governorship election.

It held that the Appellants failed to adduce credible and admissible evidence to substantiate their claim that the election was marred by irregularities that included over-voting and substantial non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act.

Likewise, the apex court held that the Appellants failed to call relevant witnesses to demonstrate some of the evidence they tendered in support of their case, especially the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines.

It held that some of the proof of evidence, which were tendered from the Bar, were merely dumped on the tribunal without establishing alleged non-compliance in 432 out of a total of 4,519 polling units in the state.

“The Appellant did not satisfactorily discharge the burden of proof placed on him by the law,” the Supreme Court held in its unanimous judgement that was delivered by Justice Garba.

The court ordered parties in the case – the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Okpebholo and the APC  to bear their respective costs of litigation. 

Ighodalo, represented by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Ken Mosia, had prayed the Apex Court to nullify Okpebholo’s election and pronounce him the winner on the ground that he scored the lawful majority votes in the said election. 

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INEC, represented by Kanu Agabi, SAN, however, asked the Apex Court to dismiss the appeal in its entirety. He argued that Ighodalo and PDP had, in their petition, stigmatised the Edo state governorship election as invalid and unlawful on the ground of non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022.

The electoral body stated that, having declared the election as unlawful and illegal, Ighodalo and PDP cannot turn around and pray the court to declare them as winners of illegality. INEC accused Ighodalo and PDP of being inconsistent in their grievances against the election and pleaded that their case be dismissed for want of merit. 

The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal had, in a judgement delivered on May 29, affirmed the election of Senator Monday Okpebholo in the September 21, 2024, governorship election in the state.

A three-member panel of Justices of the court, presided over by Justice Mohammed Danjuma,  upheld Okpebholo’s election and dismissed the appeal filed by the PDP and its governorship candidate in the election.

The PDP and Ighodalo had sued the INEC, the governor, and others for declaring Okpebholo the winner of the poll, alleging that the election was marred by irregularities.

It would be recalled that the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which sat in Abuja, had, on April 2, 2025, dismissed the petition filed by the PDP and its governorship candidate challenging Okpebholo’s election.

Justice Wilfred Kpochi, who delivered the unanimous judgment of the three-member panel, stressed that the petitioners failed to prove their allegations of over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

Okpebholo and Dennis Idahosa were sworn in as governor and deputy governor of Edo State on November 12, 2024, after INEC had declared Monday Okpebholo the winner of the September 21, 2024, governorship election.

Dissatisfied with the outcome, the PDP and its candidate approached the Tribunal for redress, insisting that the governor did not win with the majority of lawful votes cast as required by law.

The PDP and its candidate urged the Tribunal to nullify INEC’s declaration of the APC and Okpebholo as winners, citing non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022, particularly regarding vote counting.

However, the APC and Okpebholo’s legal team urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition for lacking in merit, arguing that the petitioners failed to substantiate allegations of an “invalid” poll.

Justice Wilfred Kpochi, in the judgment, agreed with the defendants that the petitioners failed to present polling unit agents and presiding officers to prove their claims.

He said it was “clear to us that the documents tendered from the bar (by the petitioners) were dumped on the Tribunal without any competent witness” to substantiate claims of over-voting and electoral non-compliance.

“These witnesses (presented by the petitioners, comprising Local Government agents and others) are total strangers,” the judge held and subsequently dismissed the petitioners’ case for failing to prove their case against the governor’s election.

The PDP and others then approached the Appeal Court to set aside the judgment of the Tribunal.

The Appeal Court in its Judgment held that, “The petitioners failed to prove their allegations of over-voting,” and added that cogent evidence is needed to dispute an election, not “presumptions” by witnesses who could not testify to what they observed at the polling units and collation centres.

Subsequently, the Appeal Court dismissed the appeal and affirmed the judgment of the Tribunal, which upheld the election of Senator Okpebholo as the governor of Edo State.

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