The Court of Appeal in Abuja has confirmed the election victory of Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, from the September 21, 2024, governorship election.
A three-justice panel, led by Justice Mohamed Danjuma, dismissed the appeal brought by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, upholding Okpebholo’s win.
On April 2, 2025, the Edo Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had previously rejected the PDP’s challenge to Okpebholo’s victory, setting the stage for the appeal. The PDP and Ighodalo contested the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s declaration of Okpebholo as the winner, citing alleged electoral irregularities.
INEC announced Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the victor with 291,667 votes, defeating Ighodalo, who secured 247,274 votes. Okpebholo and his deputy, Dennis Idahosa, were sworn into office on November 12, 2024, following the official results.
Unconvinced, the PDP argued before the tribunal that Okpebholo’s win did not reflect the majority of lawful votes and violated the Electoral Act, 2022. To support their case, the PDP subpoenaed INEC to present Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines from 133 disputed polling units as evidence.
The tribunal admitted the 133 BVAS machines but ultimately dismissed the petition, ruling that the PDP failed to substantiate its claims. Justice Wilfred Kpochi, leading the tribunal, noted that the petitioners “dumped” documents without competent witnesses to validate allegations of over-voting and non-compliance.
The judge criticized the PDP’s witnesses local government agents and others as “total strangers” to the polling unit issues they alleged. The APC and Okpebholo’s legal team successfully argued that the petition lacked merit and evidence of an invalid election.
Dissatisfied, the PDP escalated the matter to the Court of Appeal, seeking to overturn the tribunal’s decision. In its ruling, the Appeal Court found that the tribunal wrongly admitted the BVAS machines as evidence due to procedural flaws.
The appellate court expunged the BVAS evidence, stating it caused a “miscarriage of justice” by not adhering to legal standards for admissibility. The court further noted that the PDP failed to present witnesses to explain the exhibits, with the few called addressing unrelated matters.
Upholding the tribunal’s core finding, the Appeal Court ruled that the PDP could not prove over-voting or non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
The justices stressed that overturning an election requires concrete evidence, not mere presumptions from inadequate testimony. The Appeal Court also dismissed the PDP’s claim of incorrect score collation as “grossly incompetent” due to insufficient proof.
Consequently, the Appeal Court affirmed the tribunal’s judgment, solidifying Monday Okpebholo’s election victory as Edo State Governor.
