The Supreme Court of Nigeria has affirmed Senator Monday Okpebholo as the duly elected Governor of Edo State, bringing to a close a prolonged legal contest over the 2024 governorship election. In a unanimous judgment delivered on Thursday by Justice Lawal Garba, the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, for lacking merit.

The five-member panel ruled that the appellants failed to provide sufficient and admissible evidence to support their allegations of over-voting, electoral irregularities, and non-compliance with the Electoral Act. Justice Garba noted that Ighodalo’s challenge covered only 395 out of the 4,519 polling units where elections were held, and the 19 witnesses called by the PDP at the tribunal stage did not strengthen their case.

“The appellants failed to prove that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act. The evidence presented, including the BVAS machines and other documents, were not properly demonstrated or linked to the specific allegations,” the court ruled.

The judgment reaffirms earlier decisions by the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which had both dismissed Ighodalo’s petition.

At the tribunal stage, chaired by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, the panel criticised the quality of evidence presented by the PDP, ruling that most of the testimonies were hearsay and lacked the necessary corroboration. The tribunal also faulted the party’s failure to call polling unit agents or presiding officers as witnesses—individuals who could have directly testified to alleged irregularities.

“We hold that the failure by the petitioners to call polling unit agents, presiding officers or other registered voters was fatal to the case,” the tribunal said. “The BVAS machines were not demonstrated in court. All evidence documents tendered by the petitioners to prove over-voting fell short of the requirements.”

The petitioners had alleged massive irregularities, over-voting, and improper collation in 765 polling units, and accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of failing to properly serialize and pre-record sensitive election materials. However, the tribunal and appellate court found no compelling evidence to support these claims.

In the final tally announced by INEC, Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 291,667 votes to defeat PDP’s Ighodalo, who secured 247,655 votes.