Supreme Court Affirms Monday Ekpebholo As Edo Governor

The Supreme Court has affirmed Monday Okpebholo as the duly elected governor of Edo State, putting an end to the legal battle over the outcome of the September 2025 governorship election.

A five-judge panel, led by Justice Mohammed Garba, delivered a unanimous verdict, dismissing the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asue Ighodalo.

The court ruled that Ighodalo’s claims lacked merit and failed to prove the election was flawed.

Justice Garba said there was no reason to overturn the decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, both of which had earlier upheld Okpebholo’s victory under the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The court pointed out that Ighodalo didn’t provide solid or convincing evidence to support his allegations of over-voting and widespread violations of the Electoral Act.

It also noted that the PDP candidate didn’t present the right witnesses to explain or validate key materials including data from the BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) machines which were central to his case.

The court said that much of the evidence submitted, particularly regarding claims of non-compliance in 432 polling units out of over 4,500 across the state, was simply presented without proper explanation or context.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Okpebholo the winner of the election held on September 21, 2025.

According to INEC’s Returning Officer, Prof. Faruk Kuta, Okpebholo secured 291,667 votes, defeating PDP’s Ighodalo, who got 247,274 votes. Labour Party’s Olumide Akpata came third with 22,763 votes, while 14 other candidates finished with far fewer votes.

Ighodalo had challenged the outcome, claiming the election was riddled with irregularities, a claim now rejected at every level of the judiciary.

KanyiDaily recalls that Monday Okpebholo had extended an open invitation to Asue Ighodalo, offering him what he called “political amnesty.”