…Akpakomiza nails Ighodalo the 4th and final time
…Edo people, APC, Governor, urge total support
…Victory keeps PDP in permanent opposition status
By Sebastine Ebhuomhan
Thursday, 10th July, 2025. Abuja. The Supreme Court, Nigeria’s apex court of jurisdiction and final appellate court of adjudication, today unanimously affirmed the free, fair, peaceful, credible and populist election of the executive governor of Edo State, Monday Okpebholo, on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a landmark judgment unanimously endorsed by all the five-member panel of the Supreme Court, which lead the Honourable Justice Mohammed Garba Lawal, JSC, delivered without any dissent from the three members on the seat, Senator Okpebholo, the distinguished former lawmaker of Esan People, the Edo Central Senatorial District, at Nigeria’s red chamber, completed the humiliating cycle of annihilation of his challenger and candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Asuerinme Akintunde Ighodalo.
The affirmation of the venerable Supreme Court in the appeal: SC/CV/536/2025, marked the fourth consecutive victory of Okpebholo against the appellant, Dr. Ighodalo, and his party, the PDP, a final defeat that relegated the party into a permanent opposition status in Edo politics for the next four and more years.
The two-hour Supreme Court judgment began at exactly 9.01am under a tight security that stretched from the city into the venue. It ended at 11.03am. Security agents stopped and turned back hundreds of people from accessing the court. Ken Mozia, SAN, led for the appellant, Ighodalo. Kanu Agabi, SAN, represented the 1st respondent, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Chief Offiong E. Offiong, SAN, represented the 2nd respondent, Governor Okpebholo while J. O. Asoluka, SAN, represented the 3rd respondent, the APC.
Justice Lawal began by reiterating the points of each party after briefly admonishing all the lawyers on the importance of looking responsible in clean and complete court regalia before an announcement that two members of the panel who are in agreement with the judgment were unavoidably absent today.
According to him, the petitioner formulated five (5) points of disagreement with the judgments of the lower courts, for which reason he wants the court to set aside the victory and declare him as the winner. Each of the respondents also formulated 5 points each, though slightly different from each other. The points relate to: Non-compliance, competence and validity, over-voting, BVAS, and relief.
In the unanimous judgment, the Supreme Court held that it sees no compelling reason to set aside the judgments of the lower court. The court also held that Ighodalo did not prove his allegations of non-compliance, over-voting, and invalidity. It therefore resolved Issue One in favour of the respondents; Issue Two in favour of the appellant; and Issues Three, Four and Five in favour of the respondents. Related issues such as cross-appeal validity and the tendering of evidence from the bar were also resolved favourably.
“The appellant did not satisfactorily discharge the burden of proof required by law. The appeal is dismissed and the judgment of the court below in respect of issues 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 is hereby upheld. This judgment affirms the decisions of the tribunal and the Court of Appeal,” Justice Lawal concluded.
The INEC returned Okpebholo as the duly elected winner of the Edo State governorship election of Saturday, 21st September, 2024. He defeated Ighodalo, the sitting government’s candidate and adopted godson of ex-governor Godwin Obaseki, by 291, 667 votes to 247, 655 votes. Ighodalo rejected the results and proceeded to the Tribunal, where Okpebholo unanimously defeated him on Wednesday, 2nd of April, 2025. After losing at the tribunal, Ighodalo approached the Court of Appeal, which unanimously upheld his loss on Thursday, 29th of May, 2025, in a resounding judgment that tongue-lashed him for taking “a gamble.” Still not satisfied with the detailed appellate judgment, and acting against popular entreaties of the good people of Edo State, Ighodalo appealed to the Supreme Court, where he met his waterloo today.
The appellant’s baseless, mischievous, broken and irreconcilable petition, which was more rooted in the anger of his abandonment at the beginning of a tedious and tortuous opposition politics by the fleeing Obaseki after much contrary promise, according to PDP leaders, reeked of a hasty or poorly schemed gamble, ab initio. This is because Okpebholo unarguably won the 2024 Edo State governorship election.
To garb the petition with a ridiculous veil, Ighodalo challenged the results of only 765 polling units out of the total 5, 419 polling units in Edo State and called only five polling agents from five of the challenged 765 polling units as witnesses. The remaining 14 witnesses that testified had no direct dealing with the poll. Worse still, the appellant refused to open and deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines, voter’s register and result sheets he tendered to prove his allegations, resulting to the allegation of dumping of evidence the respondents made against him at the lower courts.
Each of the two lower court judgments overwhelmingly indicated that Okpebholo still won the election clearly even if all the votes APC obtained in Ighodalo’s five polling units whose witnesses testified for him or even the disputed 765 polling units were voided or taken away from the winner. Owing to this crystal-clear fact, Ighodalo systematically and tactically opted against asking the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal for particular reliefs (either a nullification of parts or the entire election or to be declared the winner or both) just as he refused to collate, sort, calculate and tabulate the final votes for all candidates unlike what ex-governor Adams Oshiomhole painstakingly did to retrieve his stolen mandate from the PDP’s Professor Osereimen Osunbor in 2008.
Instead, Ighodalo, a reputed commercial lawyer and investment banker, the co-founder of Banwo and Ighodalo law firm and former Chairman of Sterling Bank Plc, pleaded inconsistently and incompetently that the election was invalid, thereby giving Okpebholo the chance to nail him that he can neither be adjudged winner of an invalid election nor his petition that demanded no relief be granted any. These costly legal errors combined with others such as his failure to call more than just five polling agents for the disputed 765 polling units to prove non-compliance, over-voting and invalidity under the amended Electoral Act returned to hurt, hunt and haunt him and his party.
A consideration of the petitioner’s strange legal strategy informed Edo APC Chairman, Emperor Jarette Tenebe’s earlier belief that the petition from the beginning was filed not to overturn Okpebholo’s election but to attract monetary donations and contributions.
In a terse statement issued shortly after the judgment, Ighodalo accepted its finality even as he disagreed with its pronouncement.
Reacting, Governor Okpebholo profoundly thanked the judiciary for its courage and fidelity to justice and the Edo people for their unflinching support, patience and faith in democracy.
He said, “This definitive verdict is not merely a legal triumph, it is a solemn reaffirmation of the sacred mandate freely given to me by the people of Edo State. It signals the beginning of a fresh chapter rooted in unity, inclusiveness, and accelerated development.
“Edo belongs to all of us. The time has come to set aside our differences, close ranks, and march forward—united in purpose, anchored in peace, and driven by a shared vision of progress.
Appealing to his political rivals to join hands with him to uplift the lives of Edo people, Okpebholo concluded, “Let this victory ignite a new era of unity, dialogue, and impact-driven governance. Let his remember this moment as the point when Edo people chose collaboration over conflict, vision over vendetta, and service over self.”
In a message signed by the State Publicity Secretary, Peter Uwadiae-Igbinigie Esq, the ruling APC said, “We urge you, Your Excellency, to see this moment not just as a personal triumph but as a renewed call to deepen your compassion for our people, to heal wounds, to unite old divides, and to build a state where every Edo son and daughter can dream and thrive.”
In similar reactions reminiscent of peace and unity, and devoid of any political undertone, Edo people hailed the judgement as an affirmation of the votes and mandate they freely, fairly and credibly gave to Okpebholo last year. They called on Ighodalo and other opposition politicians to key into the developmental blueprint of the governor now that the dispute and doubt they raised against his overwhelming victory has been laid to rest finally.
Indeed, the judgment marked a continuation of the celebration of remarkable milestones in the governor’s household: following the call to bar this week of his daughter, Ms. Eghogho Favour Okpebholo, Esq; in the government: following the Chief of Staff’s wife, Mrs. Nana Gani Audu, Esq’s call to bar, also; and in the entire Edo State: following the heartwarming news from the Debt Management Office (DMO) announcing the reduction of Edo State domestic debts from N113 billion in Quarter 4 of 2024 to N82.4 billion in Quarter 1 of 2025, the most substantial debt reduction from a transparent economic management and sound fiscal policy by any state government in Nigeria during the same period.
Mr. Sebastine EBHUOMHAN is an award-winning journalist and a media consultant from Edo State, who freely supported Monday Okpebholo to become state governor. He can be reached on: usie007@yahoo.com and 08037204620.