By Ghazali Ibrahim
The Supreme Court on Thursday, July 10, 2025, upheld the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State, putting to rest a long-drawn legal battle over the September 21, 2024, governorship election.
A five-member panel of justices led by Justice Mohammed Garba delivered the unanimous verdict, dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo, for lacking in merit.
The apex court said there was no justification to overturn the concurrent decisions of the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, both of which had affirmed Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor.
Justice Garba, who delivered the lead judgment, faulted Ighodalo’s petition for failing to produce credible and admissible evidence to support claims of electoral malpractice.
The court noted that allegations of over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act were not sufficiently substantiated.
“The Appellant did not satisfactorily discharge the burden of proof placed on him by the law,” the court ruled.
The justices pointed out that several of the documents tendered by Ighodalo, including those related to the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), were dumped on the tribunal without calling witnesses to explain or link them to specific polling units.
Notably, irregularities were alleged in 432 out of 4,519 polling units, but no concrete evidence was presented to back the claims.
INEC had earlier declared Okpebholo winner of the election, having polled the majority of the votes cast.
Ighodalo, who emerged runner-up, had challenged the results, alleging widespread irregularities and procedural violations by the electoral commission.
Both the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal had dismissed his petition before today’s final verdict by the Supreme Court.
With this ruling, Governor Okpebholo’s election stands fully validated, signaling the end of the legal contest over the 2024 Edo governorship race.
