S’Court dismisses Ighodalo’s appeal, affirms Okpebholo Edo gov
The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Thursday affirmed Senator Monday Okpebholo as the Governor of Edo State, dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo.
A 5-member panel of the apex court in the lead judgment delivered by Justice Lawal Garba, held that the appellants failed to prove their case of over-voting, non-compliance with the Electoral Act, among other infractions which they cited as grounds to fault the electoral victory of Okpebholo.
In a unanimous judgment, the apex court held that with the submission before it, Ighodalo was not duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast.
Specifically, the apex court held that the PDP candidate failed to prove non-compliance as he merely challenged the outcome of the election in 395 of the 4,519 polling units where elections were held.
The apex court panel also said the 19 witnesses called at the Tribunal stage did not help the case of the PDP in challenging the outcome of the election.
The apex court held that it found no reason to set aside the previous judgment of the lower courts, stating that the appellant failed to prove, without doubt, admissible evidence to the claim that the election was marred by irregularities and over-voting and proceeded to dismiss Igodhalo’s appeal.
PUNCH Online reported that the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, on May 29, 2025, affirmed the decision of the Edo State governorship Election Petition tribunal that affirmed the election victory of Governor Okpebholo.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Thursday affirmed Senator Monday Okpebholo as the Governor of Edo State, dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo.
A 5-member panel of the apex court in the lead judgment delivered by Justice Lawal Garba, held that the appellants failed to prove their case of over-voting, non-compliance with the Electoral Act, among other infractions which they cited as grounds to fault the electoral victory of Okpebholo.
In a unanimous judgment, the apex court held that with the submission before it, Ighodalo was not duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast.
Specifically, the apex court held that the PDP candidate failed to prove non-compliance as he merely challenged the outcome of the election in 395 of the 4,519 polling units where elections were held.
The apex court panel also said the 19 witnesses called at the Tribunal stage did not help the case of the PDP in challenging the outcome of the election.
The apex court held that it found no reason to set aside the previous judgment of the lower courts, stating that the appellant failed to prove, without doubt, admissible evidence to the claim that the election was marred by irregularities and over-voting and proceeded to dismiss Igodhalo’s appeal.
PUNCH Online reported that the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, on May 29, 2025, affirmed the decision of the Edo State governorship Election Petition tribunal that affirmed the election victory of Governor Okpebholo.
The petitioners in a petition marked EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024 alleged that Okpebholo did not score the highest number of votes in the election, adding that the election was marred by multiple irregularities and corrupt practices.
The petitioners alleged a high record of over-voting in the election and prayed the tribunal to nullify the election over non-serialisation of ballots, incorrect collation of figures, and erroneous computation of scores in 765 polling units.
The petitioners also argued that the election was marred by non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
It was equally the contention of the petitioners that INEC failed to serialise and pre-record some of the sensitive materials that were deployed for the poll, a situation they said aided the rigging of the election in favour of the APC and its candidate.
In the course of the trial, the petitioners called 19 witnesses to defend their claim that the election was marred with irregularities and should be nullified, while INEC, the 1st respondent, did not call any witnesses.
The petitioners subpoenaed a Senior Technical Officer from INEC’s ICT Department, who tendered 154 BVAS machines from 133 polling units to the tribunal to support their allegations of over-voting.
Okpebholo, the 2nd respondent in the petition, called a lone witness, while the APC, the third respondent, called four witnesses before closing its defence.
Source: Punch
