Edo Governorship: Supreme Court Validates Monday Okpebholo’s Win
Monday Okpebholo
The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision on Thursday, affirmed the election of Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor of Edo State.
The court upheld the ruling of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which confirmed Monday Okpebholo’s victory in the governorship election.
A five-member panel, led by Justice Mohammed Garba Lawal, ruled that the appellants failed to substantiate their claims of election irregularities, unlawful votes, and that Monday Okpebholo was not duly elected.
The court stated that Ighodalo and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) failed to present “credible and admissible evidence” to support their allegations of electoral irregularities, including claims of over-voting and substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
It also faulted the appellants for failing to call “relevant witnesses” to connect the evidence tendered to their claims, particularly regarding the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines.
The Supreme Court noted that most of the documents presented by the PDP were merely “dumped” on the tribunal without proper linkage to specific allegations, impacting 432 out of the 4,519 polling units.
Recall that Ighodalo had approached the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal, in its May 29 ruling, affirmed the tribunal’s dismissal of his petition.
He contended that the lower courts failed to “properly evaluate the evidence” and maintained that the election was not conducted “in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act.”
Before the tribunal, the PDP and its candidate alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to pre-record certain sensitive materials and that results were manipulated in 765 polling units.
They called 19 witnesses and tendered 153 BVAS machines used in 133 polling units. However, the tribunal ruled that they failed to “substantiate their claims.”
INEC had declared that Governor Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes, defeating his closest rival, Ighodalo, who secured 247,655 votes.
