The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Thursday affirmed Monday Okpebholo’s election as the Governor of Edo State, dismissing the petition filed by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asue Ighodalo, challenging the outcome of the September 21, 2024 governorship election in the South-South state.
Reacting promptly to the appellate court’s ruling, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) announced its intention to challenge the decision at the Supreme Court.
In the September 2024 governorship election, Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) emerged victorious with 291,667 votes, defeating the PDP’s Asue Ighodalo, who garnered 247,274 votes.
Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) finished a distant third with 22,763 votes. Fourteen other candidates also participated in the race but trailed significantly behind the top three contenders.
The APC candidate secured victories in more than 10 of Edo State’s 18 local government areas, while the PDP’s Ighodalo managed narrow wins in the remaining councils.
The APC also dominated two out of the state’s three key senatorial districts, considered battlegrounds during the election.
Following the vote, Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party trailed behind, while Okpebholo was promptly declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and officially sworn in as governor on November 12, 2024. He succeeded Godwin Obaseki of the PDP, taking office at the Dennis Osadebe House.
Read also: Who is Monday Okpebholo? The Edo governor-elect
Unhappy with the election outcome, Ighodalo filed a petition with the election tribunal, seeking Okpebholo’s disqualification. However, in April 2025, the three-member tribunal, led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, dismissed the case.
In its ruling, the panel stated that Ighodalo and other petitioners, including the Accord Party, failed to provide credible witnesses or sufficient evidence to substantiate claims of electoral irregularities.
Justice Kpochi delivering the lead judgment, emphasized that allegations of non-compliance with the Electoral Act must be clearly proven.
The tribunal highlighted that the petitioners’ inability to present polling unit staff, presiding officers, or voters as witnesses critically weakened their case.
Ighodalo then took his appeal to the Court of Appeal, but the appellate judges rejected his case, leaving the Supreme Court as his final option for legal redress.
