The Supreme Court is set to deliver judgment on the appeal filed by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Asue Ighodalo challenging the declaration of Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the September 21, 2024 Edo State governorship election.
Ighodalo’s legal team, led by Senior Advocate of Nigeria Ken Mozia, urged the court to overturn the rulings of the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, both of which dismissed Ighodalo’s petition for lack of merit.
The petition alleged widespread electoral irregularities, including over-voting, incorrect collation of votes in 765 polling units, and failure by INEC to properly serialize ballot papers or pre-record sensitive materials. The PDP and Ighodalo claimed these irregularities favored the APC candidate.
During the tribunal proceedings, the petitioners presented 19 witnesses and submitted 154 BVAS machines from 133 polling units to support their claims. However, the tribunal found the evidence insufficient, noting the absence of polling agents, presiding officers, or voters to testify on the alleged irregularities. The tribunal also ruled that documents alone could not prove over-voting without witness corroboration.
The tribunal dismissed the petition, stating that the petitioners failed to prove non-compliance with electoral laws or that such non-compliance affected the election outcome. The final INEC results showed Okpebholo with 291,667 votes and Ighodalo with 247,655 votes.
At the Supreme Court hearing, INEC’s counsel argued that the PDP and Ighodalo could not claim the election was illegal and simultaneously seek to be declared winners. Counsel for Okpebholo and the APC also urged the court to dismiss the appeal.
After hearing all arguments, the court reserved judgment and will communicate the date of the final decision to the parties.
