…Dismisses Ighodalo’s Appeal Due to Lack of Merit
By Sunday Apah
The Supreme Court confirmed on Thursday the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State.
In a unanimous ruling delivered by a five-member panel chaired by Justice Mohammed Garba, the court dismissed an appeal lodged by Asuerinme Ighodalo, the candidate from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), aimed at overturning the results of the governorship election conducted on September 21, 2024, citing lack of merit.
The Supreme Court indicated that there were no valid grounds to overturn the consistent judgments from both the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had previously affirmed Okpebholo, representing the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the legitimate winner of the election.
The court stated that Ighodalo had failed to provide credible and admissible evidence to support his allegations of election irregularities, which included claims of over-voting and significant non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
Additionally, the court noted that the Appellant did not summon relevant witnesses to corroborate the evidence presented, particularly concerning the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines.
It remarked that many of the pieces of evidence presented were inadequately supported and merely submitted without establishing the claimed non-compliance in 432 of the 4,519 polling units across the state.
“The Appellant did not adequately fulfill the burden of proof required by law,” the Supreme Court concluded in its lead judgment authored by Justice Garba.
Ighodalo’s appeal, marked as SC/CV/536/2025, sought to nullify the ruling from the Court of Appeal issued on May 29, which dismissed his case and upheld Okpebholo’s victory.
The PDP candidate argued that the appellate court failed to thoroughly evaluate his appeal, insisting that the election was conducted without significant adherence to the provisions of the Electoral Act.
The Supreme Court had reserved its judgment on July 2, following the final submissions from all parties involved.
While the PDP urged the court to overturn the existing rulings and declare Ighodalo as the rightful winner based on having received the highest number of valid votes, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Okpebholo, and the APC requested the dismissal of the appeal to maintain the election results.
The Court of Appeal, led by Justice M. A. Danjuma, previously refused to annul Okpebholo’s election, upholding the tribunal’s May 15 judgment that validated the results declared by INEC.
The three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, had earlier dismissed petitions filed against Governor Okpebholo by the PDP and its candidate, along with cases from the Action Alliance and the Accord Party.
INEC had announced that Okpebholo garnered a total of 291,667 votes, surpassing Ighodalo of the PDP, who received 247,655 votes.
Dissatisfied with the election results, the petitioners approached the tribunal, claiming that the election did not comply significantly with the Electoral Act, 2022.
In the petition labeled EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, the PDP and its candidate contended that Governor Okpebholo did not acquire the highest number of valid votes cast.
The petitioners asserted that INEC failed to serialize and properly record some sensitive materials used in the election, alleging that this negligence enabled electoral fraud favoring the APC and its candidate.
Specifically, they claimed there was miscalculation of results in 765 polling units and presented 19 witnesses along with various exhibits before the tribunal.
Among the exhibits were 153 BVAS machines from 133 polling units, which the petitioners argued were manipulated at the collation centers, leading to inflated votes for Okpebholo.
In its ruling, the tribunal determined that the petitioners did not provide credible evidence sufficient to warrant overturning the election results.
It emphasized that the petitioners were responsible for proving that Governor Okpebholo had been improperly declared the winner, a burden they were unable to satisfy.
The tribunal also remarked that the PDP and its candidate submitted exhibits without the necessary demonstrations through qualified witnesses, compromising their case.
It noted that most testimonies provided were hearsay, and the absence of polling agents, presiding officials, or voters to substantiate their claims severely weakened their argument.
Further, the tribunal stated that Section 137 of the Electoral Act did not prevent the petitioners from bringing forth necessary, competent witnesses.
The tribunal dismissed the petitioners’ arguments regarding INEC’s alleged failure to pre-record election materials, stressing that none of the BVAS machines presented were activated to prove that the votes in dispute exceeded the number of accredited voters.
Following the Court of Appeal’s upholding of the tribunal’s judgment, Ighodalo escalated the matter to the Supreme Court, where he faced another defeat on Thursday.
Source: Vanguard
