Asue Ighodalo Loses As Supreme Court Affirms Monday Okpebholo As Edo Governor

The Supreme Court has upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which affirmed the election of Monday Okpebholo as governor of Edo State in the 2024 governorship election.

Naija News reports that a five-member panel of the apex court, on Thursday, led by Mohammed Garba, dismissed the appeal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asue Ighodalo, to nullify the outcome of the governorship election that held in the state on September 21, 2024, as lacking in merit.

Garba said the appellants failed to prove that Oklebholo did not secure lawful votes in the election and did not properly demonstrate that the tribunal’s and the court of appeal’s decision was perverse.

He said, “The appeal is hereby dismissed for lacking in merit and the judgement affirms the decision of the tribunal and court of appeal.”

Meanwhile, the Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has come down hard on Governor Monday Okpebholo, accusing him of turning the state into a “theatre of political jamborees” while allegedly neglecting core responsibilities in governance.

In a statement issued Friday, the Publicity Secretary of the PDP Caretaker Committee in Edo, Chris Osa Nehikhare, described the governor’s recent political gatherings as reckless, self-serving and devoid of any meaningful benefit to the people.

The opposition party said it was appalling, disappointing and most irrational that Okpebholo, who it claims has been junketing across the country in search of loans, is now allegedly spending billions of naira in public funds to host political events.

“Barely days after squandering billions of scarce public funds to host APC governors in Benin City, Okpebholo is set to waste even more taxpayers’ money on another hollow gathering, the so-called South-South Summit,” Nehikhare said.