Supreme Court reserves judgment in Edo guber legal battle indefinitely

The Supreme Court has indefinitely adjourned judgment in the Edo State Governorship Election Petition legal battle.The apex court adjourned the judgment sine die after taking arguments for and against the election that produced Monday Okpebholo as the duly elected governor.

Justice Garba Lawal, who presided over the hearing of the appeal filed by Mr Asue Ighodalo and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said that the date for delivery of the judgment would be communicated to the parties involved.

Ighodalo, whose appeal was argued by Ken Mosia, prayed the Supreme Court to remove Okpebholo and pronounced him as the winner of the election.
His ground was that he scored a majority of lawful votes in the election.

However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) represented by Kanu Agabi, asked the apex court to dismiss the appeal in its entirety.

The electoral body said that having declared the election unlawful and illegal, Ighodalo and PDP cannot turn around and pray the court to declare them as winners of illegality.

INEC accused Ighodalo and PDP of being inconsistent in their grievances against the election, pleading that their case be dismissed for want of merit.

The appeal challenges the result declared by INEC, which announced Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election.

On May 29, 2025, the Court of Appeal in Abuja affirmed the ruling of the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal. Both the tribunal and Appeal Court dismissed Ighodalo’s petition, describing it as lacking in merit.

Specifically on April 2, 2025, a three-member panel of the tribunal, chaired by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, dismissed the petition filed by the PDP and Ighodalo, citing the petitioners’ failure to prove claims of over-voting and electoral irregularities.

The PDP and Ighodalo alleged that the election involved incorrect collation of figures, errors in vote computation in 765 polling units, and a failure by INEC to serialise ballot papers or pre-record sensitive materials. They claimed this enabled electoral malpractice in favour of the APC and its candidate.

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