Supreme Court affirms Okpebholo’s election
The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State.
A five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba ruled unanimously on Thursday that the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal were right to have affirmed Okpebholo as the winner of the governorship election held in Edo on September 21, 2024.
The apex court dismissed as lacking in merit, an appeal filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Asuerinme Ighodalo, to nullify the outcome of the election.
According to the Supreme Court, the appellant failed to adduce credible and admissible evidence to substantiate his claim that the election was marred by irregularities that included over-voting and substantial non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act.
Likewise, it held that the appellant 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.
It held that that some of the proof of evidence, which were tendered from the bar, were merely dumped on the tribunal without establishing alleged non-compliance in 432 out of a total of 4,519 polling units in the state.
“The Appellant did not satisfactorily discharge the burden of proof placed on him by the law,” the Supreme Court held in its lead judgement read by Justice Garba.
