Appeal Court Affirms Edo Gov Okpebholo’s Victory

Thursday May 29, 2025|

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate in the disputed poll, Asue Ighodalo, to affirm Mr Okpebholo’s election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Mr Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the election with 291,667 votes, while Mr Ighodalo came in second with 247,655 votes. Several other candidates participated in the election but secured only a small fraction of the total votes.

However, Mr Ighodalo headed to the Edo State Governorship Election Tribunal, which sat in Abuja, to challenge the results.

He alleged widespread irregularities, overvoting, malpractices and non-compliance with the Electoral Act during the election.


The tribunal, in its judgement in April, dismissed his claims as unproven.

However, convinced of the merit of his case, Mr Ighodalo immediately appealed the tribunal’s verdict.

The Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the tribunal on Thursday, May 29, similarly holding that Mr Ighodalo and his party failed to present enough evidence in support of their case.