Leaked Edo Tribunal Judgment Surfaces Online, Upholds Okpebholo Election

Leaked Edo Tribunal Judgment Surfaces Online, Upholds Okpebholo Election

A wave of confusion ensued as leaked copies of the yet-to-be-announced judgment of the Edo State Governorship Election Tribunal surfaced online just hours before the scheduled judgment delivery.

The leaked document, widely circulated on the internet, indicated that the tribunal’s lead judgment dismissed the petition and upheld the election of Governor Monday Okpebholo….READ MORE….

It will be recalled that the three-member tribunal, led by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, had reserved judgment on March 3 regarding the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Mr. Asue Ighodalo. The petition challenged the outcome of the governorship election held in Edo State on September 21, 2024.

The tribunal had earlier instructed the parties involved to appear before it on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, for the judgment.

In what appeared to be an unauthorized release, the leaked document revealed a split decision of two-to-one among the tribunal members. The chairman, Justice Kpochi, and the first member, Justice A. B. Yusuf, dismissed the petition and upheld Governor Okpebholo’s election. In contrast, the third member, Justice A. A. Adewole, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a new Certificate of Return to Ighodalo of the PDP, declaring him the legitimate winner.

Justice Adewole, in his minority judgment, argued that Governor Okpebholo’s election was invalid due to significant non-compliance with the Electoral Act. He stated that Okpebholo had not been duly elected by a majority of lawful votes, thereby nullifying the declared result. The minority judgment also noted that the petitioner’s evidence, presented on a unit-by-unit basis, demonstrated that the correct vote tally should have been 243,113 for Ighodalo, compared to 210,326 for Okpebholo.

Conversely, the lead and majority decision, delivered by Justice Kpochi, acknowledged credible evidence of non-compliance, particularly concerning Section 73(2) (failure to record serial numbers on EC 25B) and Section 51(2) (over-voting). However, it concluded that the petitioners had failed to prove that these irregularities substantially impacted the election outcome as required by Section 135(1) of the Electoral Act.

The judgment highlighted that while the petitioners demonstrated discrepancies in vote collation and result exclusion, their evidence did not conclusively establish that the margin of lead had been surpassed or that they secured the highest number of lawful votes. The majority decision was anchored on precedents set by the Supreme Court in cases such as Oyetola vs. Adeleke (2023) and Atiku vs. INEC (2023), which emphasize that proving substantial non-compliance is crucial to overturning an election result.

Consequently, the tribunal dismissed the petition, citing a lack of merit and failure to meet the dual burden of proof required by law.

As of the time of reporting, DAILY POST has not independently verified the authenticity of the leaked judgment document.

It is pertinent to recall that INEC had declared Governor Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner, having garnered 291,667 votes, while Ighodalo of the PDP secured 247,655 votes. Dissatisfied with the outcome, Ighodalo and the PDP filed a petition on October 11, 2024, alleging that the election did not comply substantially with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.