By Anthony Ochela, Abuja
The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal filed by the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Asue Ighodalo against the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State.
The apex court held on Thursday in its judgment that Ighodalo and PDP failed to establish the two grounds of their petition on non compliance with the Electoral Act 2022 and over voting.
Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba who read the lead judgment resolved four of the five issues in contention against Ighodalo.
In the unanimous judgment, the petition of Ighodalo and PDP were found to be unmeritorious and lacking in substance.
Parties in the case comprising the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Okpekholo and the All progressives Congress were ordered to bear respectful costs of litigation.
Justice Garba Lawal had on Wednesday July 2nd, presided over the hearing of the appeal filed by Mr Asue Ighodalo and the PDP following the decision of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which had on May 29 affirmed the ruling of the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
Both courts dismissed Ighodalo’s petition, describing it as lacking merit.
On April 2, 2025, a three-member panel of the tribunal, chaired by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, dismissed the petition filed by the PDP and Ighodalo, citing the petitioners’ failure to prove claims of over-voting and electoral irregularities.
The petition, marked EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024, alleged that Okpebholo did not win the highest number of lawful votes and that the election was marred by widespread irregularities, over-voting, and violations of the Electoral Act.
The PDP and Ighodalo alleged that the election involved incorrect collation of figures, errors in vote computation in 765 polling units, and a failure by INEC to serialise ballot papers or pre-record sensitive materials.
They claimed this enabled electoral malpractice in favour of the APC and its candidate.
During the trial, the petitioners called 19 witnesses and subpoenaed a Senior Technical Officer from INEC’s ICT department, who brought 154 BVAS machines from 133 polling units to support claims of over-voting.
INEC did not present any witnesses.
Okpebholo called one witness, while the APC presented four.
While the PDP asked the tribunal to nullify the election based on the evidence, the respondents countered that the case lacked merit.
They argued that Ighodalo failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he won the election or that there was significant non-compliance with the law.
Justice Kpochi, in the tribunal’s judgment, said, “We hold that the failure by the petitioners to call polling unit agents, presiding officers or other registered voters was fatal to the case.
“It still remains the law that documents do not speak for themselves. A petitioner must prove their evidence. The allegation of non-compliance must be proved.
“The BVAS machines were clearly dumped and remain dormant. None of the witnesses could speak to the BVAS machine. The machines were not demonstrated to prove the allegations of over-voting.
“All the evidence documents tendered by the petitioners to prove over-voting fall short of the requirements. The law requires that the petitioners shall call witnesses to link the evidence rendered.”
On the petitioners’ claims that INEC did not comply with electoral guidelines, Justice Kpochi ruled, “The petitioners failed to prove that the first defendant did not comply with the provisions of the electoral act or INEC rules of conduct as required by law.”
Regarding claims of missing serial numbers on ballots, the tribunal ruled, “There are figures here.”
The court also dismissed claims of a lack of prior recording of materials used in the poll.
In the final result announced by INEC, Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes while Ighodalo came second with 247,655 votes.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Ighodalo whose appeal was argued by Ken Mosia, SAN, prayed the Supreme Court to remove Obekpolo and pronounced him as winner of the election.
His ground was that he scored majority of lawful votes in the election.
INEC was represented by Kanu Agabi, who urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal.
He argued that the PDP and Ighodalo described the election as illegal and could not then ask to be declared winners of the same election.
Agabi told the court that Ighodalo and the PDP were inconsistent in their case and urged the judges to reject their claims.
Okpebholo’s counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu, and APC’s counsel, Emmanuel Okala, also asked the court to dismiss the appeal.
