A five-man panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice Mohammed Garba on Thursday dismissed an appeal by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Mr Asuerinme Ighodalo, filed to nullify the outcome of the governorship election held in the state on September 21, 2024 and won by Mr Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a unanimous decision, the panel said the suit lacked merit adding that it found no reason to set aside the concurrent judgments of both the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which returned Okpebholo of as the valid winner of the gubernatorial contest.
In the lead judgement read by Garba, the court held that Ighodalo and his party failed to prove their case of over-voting, non-compliance with the Electoral Act, among other infractions which they cited as grounds to fault the electoral victory of Okpebholo.
The apex court held that with the submission before it, Ighodalo was not duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast.
Specifically, the court held that the PDP candidate failed to prove non-compliance as he merely challenged the outcome of the election in 395 of the 4,519 polling units where elections were held.
The apex court panel also said the 19 witnesses called at the Tribunal stage did not help the case of the PDP in challenging the outcome of the election.
Likewise, it held that the PDP candidate failed to call relevant witnesses to demonstrate some of the evidence he tendered in support of his case, especially the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) machines.
The apex court held that it found no reason to set aside the previous judgments of the lower courts, stating that the appellant failed to prove, without doubt, admissible evidence to the claim that the election was marred by irregularities and over-voting and proceeded to dismiss Ighodalo’s appeal.
