10 July 2025, 09:36 WAT
New Informate 3 hours wey don pass
Di Supreme Court confam Monday Okpebholo as di validly elected govnor of Edo State.
Di court deliver im judgement on Thursday for di Edo State govnorship election wey bin hapun for 21 September, 2024.
Di court hold say di decision of di election petition tribunal wey bin also dey upheld by di Court of Appeal dey correct.
Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba wey read di lead judgement say di PDP and dia candidate Asue Ighodalo no provide sufficient proof to make di court change di concurrent judgements of di tribunal and di Court of Appeal.
Di mata bin dey between Asue Ighodalo wey be candidate of Di Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Monday Okpebholo, candidate of di All Progressives Congress (APC), wey di Independent National Electoral Commission, Inec bin declare as winner of di election.
Ighodalo bin come second for di election but e claim say Inec bin no comply wit di electoral rules and say dem deliberately favour di APC candidate.
Di PDP candidate also allege say plenty cases of over voting bin hapun during di election and if dem remove dose votes, na im suppose be di winner of di election, no be Okpebholo.
But Oga Asue Ighodalo bin lose di case for both di Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and di Court of Appeal, as di two courts confam Okpebholo as di winner of di election.
Di two lower courts agree say PDP and dia candidate no provide enough evidence for court to prove say wuruwuru bin dey for di election, or say Inec bin no follow di electoral guideline.
Dis na why Ighodalo bin carry di mata go Supreme Court wey be di highest court, asking dem to set aside di decisions of di tribunal and di Appeal Court, and to declare am winner of di govnorship election.
For dia judgement, di Supreme Court point out say di PDP and dia candidate Asue Ighodalo bin call 15 witnesses wen di matter dey for di election tribunal, and out of dis 15, only five be polling unit agents on di election day, but dem dey claim say overvoting be happen for 453 polling units.
Also, di appelants – wey be di PDP and oga Ighodalo – bin tender some Biometric Voter Accreditation System (Bvas) machines as part of dia exhibits, but dem no even open am to demonstrate how overvoting bin happen, rather dem just “dump di exhibits for di tribunal”.
Di job of di court no include investigation, so e no be di tribunal job to start to interrogate di Bvas machine, rather na di job of di appelant to use di Bvas to demonstrate dia point.
Justice Garba also tok say di total numba of polling units wia di Edo State gunorship election bin take place dey over 5000, but di PDP claim say overvoting bin happen for 453 polling units. Dis no dey enough for dem to claim say di entire election bin no comply wit di Electoral Act.
Section 135 of di Electoral Act provide say election no go dey nullified if it appears to di election tribunal say di extent of non-compliance bin no substantially affect di outcome of di election, Justice Garba tok.
“Di appelants no satisfactorily discharge di onus of proof as required by law to nullify di election,” e rule.
“Dis appeal no get merit, e dey bound to be dismissed, and it is hereby dismissed.”
