Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared the legitimate governor of Edo State by the Supreme Court on Thursday.
In the unanimous ruling of a five-member panel presided over by Justice Mohammed Garba, the highest court rejected the appeal submitted by PDP candidate Asuerinme Ighodalo on the grounds that it was without substance.
On September 21, 2024, the state had a governorship election, and Ighodalo had filed an appeal to overturn the results.
The Supreme Court, however, stated in its decision that it did not see any justification for overturning the concurrent rulings of the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, both of which upheld Okpebholo as the legitimate victor of the September gubernatorial election.
The appellant failed to present reliable and admissible evidence to support his allegation that the election was tainted by irregularities, such as excessive voting and significant non-compliance with Electoral Act regulations, the highest court ruled.
Additionally, the court determined that the appellant had neglected to summon pertinent witnesses to substantiate some of the data he presented to support his position, particularly the machines used by the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, or BVAS.
The court held that some of the proof of evidence, which were tendered from the Bar, were simply dumped on the tribunal without establishing alleged non-compliance in 432 out of 4,519 polling units in the state,Justice Garba noted in his lead judgment.
As stated by Justice Garba, “The Appellant did not satisfactorily discharge the burden of proof placed on him by the law,”
