Supreme Court Upholds Gov Okpebholo’s Edo Guber Poll Victory

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.

In a unanimous decision delivered on Thursday by a five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba, the apex court ruled that the appeal lacked merit and affirmed the decisions of both the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which had previously upheld Okpebholo’s victory under the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The court held that the PDP and its candidate failed to present sufficient and credible evidence to prove their allegations of widespread irregularities, including over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act during the September 21, 2024 governorship poll.

Justice Garba, who read the lead judgment, stated that the appellants did not provide the necessary witnesses to back their claims, particularly concerning the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines, which were critical to the case. 

The court noted that many of the documents presented were not properly demonstrated before the tribunal and were merely submitted without adequate explanation.

The apex court emphasized that the burden of proof rested on the appellants, and they failed to discharge it as required by law. 

It concluded that there was no justification to overturn the concurrent judgments that declared Okpebholo the rightful winner.

Ighodalo, in the appeal marked SC/CV/536/2025, had asked the Supreme Court to reverse the May 29 decision of the Court of Appeal, which dismissed his petition and affirmed the APC candidate’s win. 

He insisted the election did not comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act and that he had the highest number of lawful votes.

While the PDP urged the court to set aside the previous rulings and declare Ighodalo the winner, Governor Okpebholo, the APC, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) all urged the court to uphold the outcome of the election. 

The judgment was reserved on July 2 after parties concluded their arguments.

Previously, both the Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal had thrown out various petitions challenging the election. The tribunal, headed by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, dismissed petitions from the PDP, the Action Alliance (AA), and the Accord Party, all of which had sought to invalidate Okpebholo’s election on grounds of alleged irregularities.

INEC had announced that Okpebholo garnered 291,667 votes, defeating Ighodalo, who secured 247,655 votes. Dissatisfied with the results, the PDP claimed in petition EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024 that the APC candidate did not lawfully win the majority of valid votes cast.

The PDP also alleged improper collation of results in 765 polling units and cited issues with the serialization and pre-recording of election materials. 

They presented 19 witnesses and tendered 153 BVAS machines used in 133 polling units.

However, the tribunal ruled that the petitioners failed to provide credible evidence or relevant witnesses—such as polling agents, INEC officials, or voters—to validate their claims. It noted that most of the testimony offered was hearsay and insufficient to overturn the election result.

In its verdict, the tribunal concluded that the PDP and its candidate did not convincingly demonstrate how the alleged irregularities affected the final outcome, and as such, Governor Okpebholo’s election stood valid.