By Charles Maduka
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reserved judgment in the case challenging the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo as the winner of the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo State.
The appeals were filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, while the All Progressives Congress, Okpebholo’s party, filed a cross-appeal against the ruling of the Edo State Election Petitions Tribunal delivered on April 2, 2025.
A three-member panel of the appellate court heard arguments on Thursday from all parties and said judgment would be delivered on a date to be communicated later.
INEC had declared Okpebholo of the APC winner of the election after he polled 291,667 votes to defeat Ighodalo of the PDP, who scored 247,655 votes. Dissatisfied with the result, Ighodalo and the PDP approached the tribunal, alleging widespread irregularities, over-voting, and non-compliance with electoral laws.
The petitioners claimed that ballot papers were not serialised, results were incorrectly collated, and there were errors across 765 polling units. They also accused INEC of failing to properly handle sensitive election materials, which they said enabled electoral malpractice.
However, the tribunal dismissed their petition on April 2, stating that the PDP and Ighodalo failed to prove their claims. They then proceeded to the Court of Appeal to challenge the ruling.
At the hearing, Ighodalo’s lawyer, Robert Emukpoeruo (SAN), urged the court to overturn the tribunal’s decision, arguing that it did not properly consider the issue of missing serial numbers on Form EC25B, as required under Section 73(2) of the Electoral Act 2022.
He also rejected the tribunal’s position that the petitioners “dumped” documents in court, saying they clearly showed inconsistencies between results from polling units and wards.
Responding, Okpebholo’s lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), argued that the petitioners failed to prove their claims and that the serial numbers mentioned were on Form EC40A, not EC25B. He added that Form EC25D, which could have supported their case, was not presented.
APC’s lawyer, Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), agreed with the tribunal’s ruling and asked the court to dismiss the appeals. He said the petitioners failed to bring witnesses for all the 765 polling units they questioned and called only 19 witnesses, out of which five were polling unit agents.
Ukala noted that important evidence such as Form EC25D, which contains the required serial numbers, was listed in the petition but not submitted during the trial.
INEC’s lawyer, Kanu Agabi (SAN), also supported the APC and Okpebholo’s arguments and urged the court to uphold the tribunal’s ruling.
After all arguments were heard, the appeal court panel, led by Justice M. A. Danjuma, announced that judgment had been reserved and that parties would be notified when it is ready.
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