The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved judgement in the appeal lodged by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo, contesting the victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2024 Edo governorship election.
A five-member panel of the Apex Court, chaired by Justice Garba Lawal, after hearing arguments, reserved judgement to a date that will be communicated to the parties involved.
The PDP and Ighodalo, in a joint appeal marked SC/CV/536/2025, are challenging the decision made on May 29 by the Court of Appeal, which upheld the earlier ruling of the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that validated Okpebholo’s election victory.
They are urging the apex court to overturn the rulings of the lower courts, contending that the election held on September 21, 2024, was tainted by irregularities.
The appellants further asserted that the election was not conducted in accordance with the Electoral Act, 2022.
They maintained that Governor Okpebholo did not secure the highest number of lawful votes and alleged discrepancies in the collation process across hundreds of polling stations.
The respondents, namely the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Okpebholo, and the APC, requested the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the decisions of both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal.
Previously, both the tribunal and appellate court had dismissed the PDP’s petition on the grounds of lack of merit. The courts determined that the petitioners failed to provide credible and convincing evidence to substantiate claims of rigging, over-voting, and result manipulation in the 765 disputed polling stations.
The tribunal concluded that witnesses presented by the PDP primarily offered hearsay evidence and did not include polling station agents or voters.
Moreover, the courts observed that the 153 BVAS machines submitted as evidence were not adequately demonstrated to indicate over-voting or irregularities, and that INEC’s procedures did not breach any explicit provisions of the law.
INEC had declared Okpebholo the winner of the poll, with 291,667 votes, defeating Ighodalo, who garnered 247,655 votes.
