- Dashes PDP’s Asue Ighodalo’s Hope
By Abiola Olawale
The Supreme Court of Nigeria has upheld the election of Senator Monday Okpebholo as the duly elected Governor of Edo State, bringing an end to the contentious legal battle over the September 21, 2024, governorship election.
The ruling, delivered on Thursday, July 10, 2025, solidifies Okpebholo’s mandate and dismisses the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo.
The Supreme Court’s five-member panel, led by Justice Mohammed Garba Lawal, affirmed the earlier judgments of the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which had both validated Okpebholo’s victory.
According to the Supreme Court, it found no reason to set aside the concurrent judgments of both the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which returned Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as the valid winner of the gubernatorial contest.
It held that the Appellant failed to adduce credible and admissible evidence to substantiate his claim that the election was marred by irregularities that included over-voting and substantial non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act.
Likewise, it held that the Appellant failed to call relevant witnesses to demonstrate some of the evidence he tendered in support of his case, especially the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, machines.
It held that some of the proof of evidence, which were tendered from the Bar, were merely dumped on the tribunal without establishing alleged non-compliance in 432 out of a total of 4,519 polling units in the state.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Okpebholo, representing the All Progressives Congress (APC), the winner with 291,667 votes, defeating Ighodalo, who polled 247,655 votes.
Ighodalo and the PDP challenged the election outcome, alleging widespread irregularities, including non-compliance with the Electoral Act, over-voting, and unserialized election materials that they claimed facilitated rigging in favor of the APC.
However, the Supreme Court found these claims unsubstantiated, echoing the lower courts’ rulings that the petitioners failed to provide credible evidence to support their allegations.
