The Supreme Court has fixed Thursday, July 10, 2025, to deliver judgment in the appeal filed by Mr. Asue Ighodalo, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State, challenging the victory of Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
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The judgment date was confirmed on Wednesday by reliable sources at the apex court in Abuja.
A five-member panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba, had last week reserved judgment after hearing arguments from counsels representing all parties. Justice Garba had announced that the verdict would be delivered on a date to be communicated to the parties — now fixed for Thursday.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Okpebholo the winner of the poll, having secured 291,667 votes against Ighodalo’s 247,274 votes. Labour Party’s Olumide Akpata came third with 22,763 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, Ighodalo and the PDP filed a petition before the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, alleging over-voting and widespread non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022. The petition, however, was dismissed by both the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which upheld Okpebholo’s election.
Ighodalo subsequently took the case to the Supreme Court, asking it to set aside the lower courts’ decisions and declare him the rightful winner. He accused INEC of conducting a flawed election and insisted that valid votes, when properly accounted for, would place him ahead of the APC candidate.
At the hearing, Ighodalo’s legal team argued that the Court of Appeal erred by failing to properly evaluate the evidence of electoral malpractice and over-voting presented before it. In response, the APC and INEC asked the court to dismiss the appeal, insisting the election substantially complied with the law.
The apex court’s ruling on Thursday is expected to bring finality to the months-long legal contest over the governorship of Edo State.
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