The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the appeal filed by Asue Ighodalo and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to affirm the election of Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo.
The five-member Garba Lawal-led panel of Supreme Court justices unanimously upheld the decisions of the lower Court of Appeal and the governorship election petition tribunal which earlier validated the outcome of the September 2024 poll.
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Delivering the lead judgement on Thursday, Mr Lawal dismissed the appellants’ case for lack of merit and sufficient proof.
The court noted that Mr Ighodalo and the PDP challenged the election results in only 395 of the 4,519 polling units, and their 19 witnesses did not help their case. Therefore, the court held that the appellants failed to prove that the elections were marred by overvoting or irregularities.
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Mr Ighodalo accepted the finality of the Supreme Court decision laying the election dispute to rest, but rejected its substance which he claimed fell short of justice.
“Though I accept the finality of its judgment, I do not and cannot pretend that what was delivered amounts to justice,” the governorship candidate wrote in a statement he posted on X shortly after the verdict was delivered Thursday.
“What happened in the September 2024 Governorship Election was not a contest. It was a robbery. Coordinated. Deliberate. And now, tragically validated by the highest court in the land. While I will not and can not obstruct any judicial pronouncement, no matter how flawed, I must never fear to speak truth to power,” Mr Ighodalo stated.
Ighodalo’s judicial journey
Thursday’s judgement of the Supreme Court concluded a judicial journey that began at the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal where Mr Ighodalo along with the PDP launched their challenge against the results of the September 2024 poll.
Mr Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the September 2024 election with 291,667 votes. Mr Ighodalo came second with 247,655 votes. Several other candidates participated in the election but secured only a small fraction of the total votes.
But displeased with the result, Mr Ighodalo headed to the Edo State Governorship Election Tribunal, which sat in Abuja, to challenge it.
He alleged widespread irregularities, overvoting, and general non-compliance with the Electoral Act during the election.
The tribunal dismissed Mr Ighodalo’s claims as unproven in its judgement delivered on 2 April.
He and his party proceeded to the Court of Appeal in Abuja to continue the legal challenge.
On 1 May, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal listened to lawyers’ submissions on the case and adjourned for judgment.
In its judgement delivered on 29 May, the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the tribunal, similarly, finding that Mr Ighodalo and his party failed to present enough evidence in support of their case.
Displeased with the decision, the appellants went on appeal against it at the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court hearing
At the the Supreme Court hearing of the appeal on 2 July, Mr Ighodalo’s lawyer, Ken Mosia, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), d called for the removal Mr Okpebholo.
Maintaining that his clients scored the majority of lawful votes in the election, Mr Moisa urged the court to declare them the winner of the election.
However, INEC, a respondent to the appeal represented by Kanu Agabi, also a SAN, asked the court to dismiss the appeal in its entirety.
Mr Agabi argued that Mr Ighodalo and PDP had in their petition stigmatised as invalid and unlawful on ground of non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022.
The electoral body said having declared the election as unlawful and illegal, Ighodalo and PDP cannot turn around and pray the court to declare them as winners of illegality.
The legal teams of the APC and Mr Okpebholo similarly called for the dismissal of the appeal and affirmation of the decisions of the Court of Appeal and the election tribunal validating the election results of declared by INEC.
Unproven allegations
Upholding the respondents’ arguments on Thursday, Mr Garba held that even if the appellants had established their claim of non-compliance in the 395 polling units, they still faced the burden to demonstrate how the said non-compliance substantially affected the entire results of the election.
The judge said it was obvious that invalidating the results in 395 polling units, where the appellants contested the results, could not have have substantially affected the overall result of the election conducted across 4,519 polling units in the state.
READ ALSO: Edo Poll: Supreme Court hears PDP, Ighodalo’s appeal, adjourns for judgement
The court also dismissed the appellants’ allegations of exclusion and reduction of votes. Mr Garba ruled that the claims were not proved with credible and admissible evidence.
He held that the appeal lacked merit, dismissed it.
The court affirmed the 29 May judgement of the Court of Appeal, affirming Okpebholo’s election.
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