The Court of Appeal in Abuja has affirmed the election of Senator Monday Okpebholo as Edo State’s governor.
A three-member panel of the court unanimously ruled in favour of the governor on Thursday, affirming the earlier decision of the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which validated the victory of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the 21 September 2024 election.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Okpebholo the winner of the election with 291,667 votes, while Ighodalo came in second with 247,655 votes. Several other candidates participated in the election but secured only a small fraction of the total votes.
However, Ighodalo headed to the state Governorship Election Tribunal, which sat in Abuja, to challenge the results.
He alleged widespread irregularities, overvoting, malpractices and non-compliance with the Electoral Act during the election.
In its judgement on 2 April, the tribunal, which sat in Abuja, dismissed his claims as unproven.
However, convinced of the merit of his case, Ighodalo immediately appealed the verdict.
The Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the tribunal on Thursday, similarly holding that Ighodalo and his party failed to present enough evidence in support of their case.
The Court of Appeal’s decision is not final in election disputes, as dissatisfied parties can further challenge the decision at the Supreme Court, which has the final say on the matter.
