Breaking…Supreme Court upholds Okpebholo’s victory in Edo

The Supreme Court of Nigeria has affirmed the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo as the duly elected governor of Edo State, putting an end to the legal challenge filed by Asuerinme Ighodalo, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the September 21, 2024, governorship election.

In a unanimous judgment delivered by a five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba, the apex court dismissed the appeal, declaring that it lacked merit. The court held that the PDP and its candidate failed to provide sufficient evidence to substantiate allegations of over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

The court noted that Ighodalo failed to present credible and admissible evidence, particularly concerning the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices and the results from 432 out of 4,519 polling units in the state.

The judges held that the petitioner relied largely on hearsay and failed to call the appropriate witnesses, such as polling unit agents or voters, to support his claims.

The tribunal and Court of Appeal had previously dismissed the petitions brought by the PDP, Action Alliance (AA), and Accord Party (AP), all of which challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s declaration of Okpebholo as the winner of the election.

INEC had announced Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the victor with 291,667 votes, defeating Ighodalo, who secured 247,655 votes.

Dissatisfied, the PDP candidate approached the tribunal and later the appellate court, but both ruled in favour of Okpebholo.

The apex court maintained that the burden of proving that the election did not comply with the law and that Okpebholo was wrongly declared the winner lay with the petitioners, a burden they failed to discharge.

Thursday’s ruling finally puts an end to the legal tussle over the Edo governorship seat, with the Supreme Court ordering that the May 29 verdict of the Court of Appeal, which upheld Okpebholo’s election, stands.