Tribunal Affirms Okpebholo As Edo Governor

The Edo state governorship tribunal has affirmed Monday Okpebholo, as the duly elected governor of the state in the election held on September 21, 2024.

Delivering judgment on Wednesday, a three-member panel of the tribunal led by Wilfred Kpochi, held that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, failed to prove the allegations against the respondents.

The tribunal held that “no competent witnesses were called” to prove the averments in their petition.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Okpebholo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as winner of the election.

Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Ighodalo of the PDP, who got 247,274 votes.

Olumide Akpata, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), finished a distant third with 22,763 votes.

Ighodalo and PDP had approached the tribunal to challenge the outcome.

The petitioners had told the court that the governorship election was invalid because of alleged non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.

They prayed the court to nullify the declaration of Okpebholo as winner on the basis that the election was allegedly marred by irregularities.