The Supreme Court of Nigeria has reserved judgment in the appeal challenging the election of Monday Okpebholo as the governor of Edo State. This decision followed a comprehensive hearing of arguments from legal representatives on Wednesday by a five-member panel of the apex court, presided over by Justice Garba Lawal (also referred to as Mohammed Garba in some reports). The specific date for the delivery of the judgment will be communicated to all involved parties.

The appeal was jointly filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the September 21, 2024, governorship election, Asue Ighodalo. Ken Mozia (SAN), counsel for the appellants, implored the apex court to invalidate Okpebholo’s election and declare Ighodalo as the rightful winner of the poll, asserting that Ighodalo secured the majority of lawful votes cast. Conversely, Kanu Agabi, counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), alongside Onyechi Ikpeazu, counsel for Okpebholo, and Emmanuel Okala, counsel for the All Progressives Congress (APC), urged the court to dismiss the appeal in its entirety. INEC contended that the appellants, having described the election as unlawful and illegal, could not subsequently seek to be declared winners of the same poll, accusing them of being inconsistent in their grievances.

BACKGROUND: INEC had officially declared Monday Okpebholo, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the Edo State governorship election. Okpebholo garnered 291,667 votes, defeating his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the PDP, who received 247,655 votes (some reports indicate 247,274 votes). Olumide Akpata, representing the Labour Party (LP), finished a distant third with 22,763 votes.

Following the election outcome, Ighodalo and the PDP initially approached the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to challenge the results. They contended that the election was invalid due to alleged widespread irregularities, non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, over-voting, incorrect collation of figures, errors in vote computation in 765 polling units, and a failure by INEC to serialise ballot papers or pre-record sensitive materials, which they claimed facilitated electoral malpractice in favour of the APC. The petitioners called 19 witnesses and even subpoenaed a Senior Technical Officer from INEC’s ICT department, who presented 154 BVAS machines from 133 polling units to substantiate claims of over-voting. INEC, however, did not present any witnesses, while Okpebholo called one and the APC four.

On April 2, 2025, a three-member panel of the tribunal, chaired by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, dismissed the petition, ruling that the PDP and Ighodalo failed to sufficiently prove their allegations against the respondents. Justice Kpochi emphasized that