The Court of Appeal in Abuja has affirmed the election of Monday Okpebholo’s victory 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 earlier validated his victory at the 21 September 2024 election.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate in the disputed poll, Asue Ighodalo, to affirm Mr Okpebholo’s election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Mr Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the election with 291,667 votes, while Mr 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, Mr Ighodalo headed to the Edo 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.
The tribunal, in its judgement in April, dismissed his claims as unproven.
However, convinced of the merit of his case, Mr Ighodalo immediately appealed the tribunal’s verdict.
The Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the tribunal on Thursday, similarly holding that Mr 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.
Mr Okpebholo, a candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the gubernatorial election held on 21 September 2024.
Dissatisfied with the judgement, Mr Ighodalo appealed the tribunal ruling at the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
Similarly, the PDP Chairman in Edo, Tony Aziegbemi, after receiving the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the tribunal judgement described it as a miscarriage of justice that ignored facts and rewarded Impunity. Premium Times