APPEAL COURT UPHOLDS OKPEBHOLO’S ELECTION AS EDO GOV, DISMISSES IGHODALO’S CASE
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The Court of Appeal, located in Abuja, dismissed the complaint of Asue Ighodalo, the PDP’s candidate for governor of South-South state, on September 21, 2024, and affirmed Monday Okpebholo’s election as governor of Edo State on Thursday.
The PDP responded right away by stating that the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the appellate court’s decision.
Ighodalo of the PDP received 247,274 votes, while Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) received 291,667 votes, defeating Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP), who finished far behind with 22,763 votes. The three front-runner candidates received more votes than the fourteen other candidates that ran for the seat.
The APC candidate cleared over 10 of the 18 local government areas, leaving the PDP candidate with marginal victory in the other local councils. The APC gained control in two of the three battleground senatorial districts in the state.
He was immediately declared returned elected by the electoral umpire INEC and sworn in as governor on November 12, 2024 when he took over the much-coveted seat at the Dennis Osadebe House from PDP’s Godwin Obaseki.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the poll, Ighodalo approached the election petition tribunal to disqualify Okpebholo but a three-member panel headed by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, in April 2025, dismissed Ighodalo’s petition.
In its judgment, the panel ruled that Ighodalo, alongside other petitioners like the Accord Party, failed to call competent witnesses to prove the allegations of non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
In the lead judgment read by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, the Tribunal said non-compliance must be proven convincingly. It noted that the failure of the petitioners to call polling unit officers, presiding officers or even voters during the election proved fatal to their petition.
Ighodalo further proceeded to the Appeal Court to seek redress but the appellate court threw out his case, leaving him with the Supreme Court as the last court of resort.
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