The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Thursday upheld the election of Senator Monday Okpebholo as the duly elected Governor of Edo State, bringing to an end months of legal contention.
Delivering its verdict, a five-man panel of the apex court led by Justice Mohammed Garba unanimously dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo, describing it as lacking in merit.
The court ruled that there was no compelling reason to overturn the concurrent decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, both of which had earlier validated the September 21, 2024, election that returned Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner.
In his lead judgement, Justice Garba held that Ighodalo and the PDP had failed to provide credible, admissible, and substantial evidence to support their claims that the election was fraught with irregularities, including allegations of over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
The apex court noted that key elements of the PDP’s case, including evidence from Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines, were not properly demonstrated or supported by relevant witnesses. It also criticised the petitioners for merely submitting documents “from the Bar” without tying them to specific testimonies or polling units, particularly the 432 polling units identified in their petition.
“The Appellant did not satisfactorily discharge the burden of proof placed on him by the law,” the Supreme Court stated.
This ruling follows a series of failed attempts by Ighodalo to upturn the election result. His petition was initially dismissed by the Justice Wilfred Kpochi-led tribunal in Benin, and subsequently by a three-member panel of the Appeal Court chaired by Justice M.A. Danjuma.
The PDP and Ighodalo had argued that the poll was marred by gross irregularities and that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to properly manage election materials and processes, leading to manipulation of results in favour of the APC candidate.
In the original petition, marked EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, the PDP presented 19 witnesses and tendered several exhibits, including 153 BVAS machines said to have been deployed in 133 polling units. They alleged that results were tampered with at collation centres and that sensitive materials were neither serialised nor pre-recorded, contrary to the Electoral Act.
However, both the tribunal and the appellate court held that the petitioners failed to back their claims with concrete evidence or call polling unit agents, presiding officers or voters who witnessed the alleged malpractice. Much of their evidence, the courts ruled, amounted to hearsay.
INEC had declared Senator Okpebholo winner of the September 2024 governorship poll with 291,667 votes, ahead of Ighodalo who polled 247,655 votes. Dissatisfied, the PDP pursued the matter through the tribunal and the Court of Appeal before arriving at the Supreme Court, where the case was finally laid to rest on Thursday.
With this judgement, Governor Okpebholo’s victory is now conclusively affirmed, paving the way for his administration to focus on governance without further legal distractions.
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