The Supreme Court, on Thursday, affirmed the victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2024 Edo State governorship election.
In a unanimous decision delivered by a five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba, the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asue Ighodalo, on the ground that the appeal “lacked merit.”
The court upheld the previous decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, both of which had declared Okpebholo the validly elected governor.
The court stated that Ighodalo and the PDP failed to present “credible and admissible evidence” to substantiate their allegations of electoral irregularities, including claims of over-voting and substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
It also faulted the Appellants for not calling “relevant witnesses” to tie the tendered evidence to their claims, particularly regarding the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines.
The Supreme Court also stated that most of the documents presented by the PDP were merely “dumped” on the tribunal without proper linkage to the specific allegations, affecting 432 out of the 4,519 polling units.
Recall that Ighodalo had approached the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal, in its May 29 ruling, affirmed the tribunal’s dismissal of his petition.
He argued that the lower courts failed to “properly evaluate the evidence” and maintained that the election was not conducted “in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act.”
Before the tribunal, the PDP and its candidate had alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to pre-record certain sensitive materials and that results were manipulated in 765 polling units.
They called 19 witnesses and tendered 153 BVAS machines used in 133 polling units. However, the tribunal ruled that they failed to “substantiate their claims.” INEC had declared that Governor Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes, defeating his closest rival, Ighodalo, who secured 247,655 votes.
