The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Wednesday reserved its judgment on an appeal seeking to nullify the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State.
The appeal, filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo, challenges the validity of the governorship election held in the state on September 21, 2024.
The appellants are asking the Supreme Court to overturn the May 29, 2025, judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had dismissed their case and affirmed Okpebholo, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the rightful winner.
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The PDP and Ighodalo argue that the appellate court failed to properly evaluate their case, contending that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
A five-member panel of Supreme Court justices, led by Justice Garba Lawal, heard the final arguments from all parties and subsequently adjourned to deliver its judgment on a date to be communicated to them.
While the PDP and its candidate urged the Supreme Court to set aside the concurrent decisions of both the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Okpebholo, and the APC all requested the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the election results.
It is recalled that a three-member panel of the Appeal Court, led by Justice M. A. Danjuma, had previously declined to nullify Governor Okpebholo’s election, affirming the May 15 judgment of the tribunal.
The Justice Wilfred Kpochi-led tribunal had dismissed petitions from the PDP and Ighodalo, as well as those from the Action Alliance (AA) and its National Chairman, Adekunle Rufai Omoaje, and the Accord Party (AP) and its candidate, Dr. Bright Enabulele, citing lack of merit.
INEC had declared Okpebholo (APC) as the winner with 291,667 votes, defeating Ighodalo (PDP), who secured 247,655 votes.
The petitioners had approached the tribunal, alleging that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022.
In their petition (EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024), they claimed that Governor Okpebholo did not secure the highest number of lawful votes.
They further contended that INEC failed to serialize and pre-record sensitive materials, which they argued facilitated rigging in favor of the APC.
Specifically, they alleged wrong computation of results in 765 polling units and presented 19 witnesses and tendered exhibits, including 153 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines from 133 polling units.
They asserted that results were manipulated at collation centers, leading to over-voting in Okpebholo’s favor.
However, the tribunal ruled that the petitioners failed to provide credible evidence to justify setting aside the election outcome.
It stated that the burden of proving that Okpebholo was unduly returned by INEC rested squarely on the petitioners, a burden they did not successfully discharge.
The tribunal criticized the PDP and its candidate for merely “dumping exhibits” without demonstrating them through competent witnesses, noting that most of the witnesses provided hearsay evidence and that the failure to produce polling unit agents, presiding officers, or voters proved fatal to their case.
It also dismissed claims that INEC failed to pre-record materials and noted that none of the BVAS machines tendered were activated to demonstrate over-voting.
Following the Appeal Court’s affirmation of the tribunal’s judgment, the PDP and Ighodalo proceeded to the Supreme Court.
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