The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved judgement in the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo, challenging the victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2024 Edo governorship election.
A five-member panel of the Apex Court, led by Justice Garba Lawal, after hearing arguments, reserved judgement to a date to be communicated to the parties.
The PDP and Ighodalo in a joint appeal, marked SC/CV/536/2025, are challenging the May 29 decision of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the earlier judgement of the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that validated Okpebholo’s election victory.
They are urging the apex court to set aside the rulings of the lower courts, arguing that the election of September 21, 2024, was marred by irregularities.
The appellants also argued that the election was not done in compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022.
They maintained that Governor Okpebholo did not receive the highest number of lawful votes and alleged discrepancies in the collation process across hundreds of polling units.
The respondents, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Okpebholo, and the APC, asked the court to dismiss the appeal and affirm the rulings of both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal.
Earlier, both the tribunal and appellate court had dismissed the PDP’s petition for lack of merit. The courts held that the petitioners failed to provide credible and convincing evidence to prove allegations of rigging, over-voting, and result manipulation in the 765 disputed polling units.
The tribunal held that witnesses presented by the PDP gave mostly hearsay evidence and did not include polling unit agents or voters.
Additionally, the courts noted that the 153 BVAS machines presented in evidence were not adequately demonstrated to show over-voting or irregularities, and that INEC’s procedures did not violate any clear provisions of the law.
INEC had declared Okpebholo winner of the poll, with 291,667 votes, defeating Ighodalo who polled 247,655 votes.