Edo Guber: Tribunal Declares Okpebholo Winner Of Sept 2024 Election

The Edo State 2024 Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, held that Governor Monday Okpebholo was validly elected.

Delivering its judgement in the petition in the petition filed by Mr Asue Ighodalo, the Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and his Party, the Tribunal held that the PDP petition failed for lack of competent witnesses.

The Tribunal specifically declared that the PDP petition challenging the outcome of the 2024 governorship election failed, because of insufficient evidence to substantiate claims of electoral malpractice.

It noted that while documents were submitted, no witnesses were called to properly authenticate them, thereby rendered the evidence inadmissible.

Tribunal noted that of the 19 witnesses presented by the petitioners, 14 were ward and local government agents, while their star witness, who claimed to be a director of strategy, played no direct role in the conduct of the election.

It also noted that none of the witnesses provided testimony on the alleged failure of prior recording of electoral materials, deeming them incompetent to testify on the matter.

The Tribunal also held that for allegations of over-voting to be proven, petitioners must provide oral evidence, in line with the precedent set by the Supreme Court, stressing that it was bound to adhere strictly to the Supreme Court’s roadmap in adjudicating election disputes.

It further said the witnesses called by the petitioners had no direct knowledge of events at the polling units, as they were not physically present during the election.

The Tribunal held that the petitioners should have called witnesses with firsthand accounts to substantiate their claims.

Accordingly, the Tribunal said that based on these findings, the petitioners failed to meet the required burden of proof and subsequently struck out their petitions.

It therefore held that Governor Monday Okpebholo won the election conducted on September 21, 2024 on the political cum electoral turf when he clinched the first prize.

Ighodalo and the PDP had filed their petition at the Election Tribunal challenging Okpebholo and the APC’s victory and insisted that failure to properly document electoral materials prior to the election seriously affected the results of the election.