Supreme Court has delivered final judgment on Edo Governorship election.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that the Supreme Court has upheld the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State, dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo, challenging the outcome of the September 21, 2024 governorship election.
In a unanimous ruling delivered on Thursday by a five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba, the apex court declared that the appeal lacked merit, reaffirming the decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had both validated Okpebholo’s victory under the All Progressives Congress (APC).
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The Supreme Court held that Ighodalo failed to present credible and admissible evidence to prove claims of over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act. It also faulted the PDP candidate for not calling relevant witnesses to support the evidence, particularly the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines tendered.
According to the lead judgment, some of the evidence presented was merely “dumped” on the tribunal without linking it to alleged irregularities in 432 of the 4,519 polling units in the state.
Justice Garba ruled: “The Appellant did not satisfactorily discharge the burden of proof placed on him by the law.”
Ighodalo had approached the Supreme Court with appeal number SC/CV/536/2025, seeking to overturn the May 29 judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had affirmed Okpebholo’s election. He argued that the election was fraught with irregularities and not conducted in substantial compliance with the law.
However, INEC, Governor Okpebholo, and the APC opposed the appeal, urging the court to uphold the lower courts’ decisions.
Earlier, the tribunal and the Appeal Court had dismissed similar petitions from the PDP, Action Alliance (AA), and Accord Party (AP), ruling that the petitioners failed to prove their cases.
INEC had declared Okpebholo winner with 291,667 votes, defeating Ighodalo who scored 247,655 votes.
With Thursday’s ruling, the legal battle over the 2024 Edo governorship election has officially come to an end.
