Supreme Court Reserves Judgement in Ighodalo’s Appeal Against Okpebholo’s Victory
The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved judgement in the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo, challenging the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2024 Edo State gubernatorial poll.
A five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Garba Lawal, made the decision on Wednesday after hearing arguments from all parties.
The court said it would communicate the date for the judgement later.
Ighodalo and the PDP are contesting the ruling of the Court of Appeal, which had affirmed the decision of the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that upheld Okpebholo’s election.
In the appeal marked SC/CV/536/2025, the appellants argued that the September 21, 2024, election was riddled with irregularities and failed to comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
They claimed Governor Okpebholo did not secure the majority of lawful votes and alleged discrepancies in results across several polling units.
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Okpebholo, and the APC, who are the respondents in the suit, urged the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the earlier verdicts.
Both the tribunal and the appellate court had thrown out the PDP’s petition for lack of merit, noting that the petitioners failed to present credible evidence of irregularities.
The courts held that most of the witnesses presented by the PDP gave hearsay testimonies and were not polling unit agents or voters.
Also, the 153 BVAS machines tendered by the PDP were deemed insufficient to prove allegations of over-voting or manipulation, and INEC’s procedures were found not to have violated any known laws.
INEC had declared Okpebholo the winner of the election with 291,667 votes, while Ighodalo secured 247,655 votes.
Titilope Adako is a talented and intrepid journalist, dedicated to shedding light on the untold stories of Osun State and Nigeria. Through incisive reporting, she tackles a broad spectrum of topics, from politics and social justice to culture and entertainment, with a commitment to accuracy, empathy, and inspiring positive change.
