News
Supreme Court Affirms Okpebholo as APC Candidate for Edo Governorship, Dismisses Ighodalo’s Appeal
Supreme Court of Nigeria on Thursday affirmed Senator Monday Okpebholo as the Governor of Edo State, dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo.
A 5-member panel of the apex court in the lead judgment delivered by Justice Lawal Garba, held that the appellants failed to prove their case of over-voting, non-compliance with the Electoral Act, among other infractions which they cited as grounds to fault the electoral victory of Okpebholo.
In a unanimous judgment, the apex court held that with the submission before it, Ighodalo was not duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast.
Specifically, the apex court held that the PDP candidate failed to prove non-compliance as he merely challenged the outcome of the election in 395 of the 4,519 polling units where elections were held.
The apex court panel also said the 19 witnesses called at the Tribunal stage did not help the case of the PDP in challenging the outcome of the election.
The apex court held that it found no reason to set aside the previous judgment of the lower courts, stating that the appellant failed to prove, without doubt, admissible evidence to the claim that the election was marred by irregularities and over-voting and proceeded to dismiss Igodhalo’s appeal.
It wouldbe recalled that the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, on May 29, 2025, affirmed the decision of the Edo State governorship Election Petition tribunal that affirmed the election victory of Governor Okpebholo.
The three-member panel of the Appellate court in a unanimous decision dismissed Ighodalo’s appeal, describing it as devoid of merit.
Meanwhile, on April 2, 2025, a three-member panel of the Edo State governorship Election Petition Tribunal, chaired by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, in a unanimous decision, dismissed the petition of the PDP and Ighodalo for their inability to prove the allegation of over-voting as stated in their petition to challenge Okpebholo’s victory.
The tribunal faulted the way and manner in which the petitioners proved their evidence in relation to the allegations brought before it and affirmed that Okpebholo scored the highest number of valid votes in the election.
The petitioners in a petition marked EPT/ED/GOV/02/2024 alleged that Okpebholo did not score the highest number of votes in the election, adding that the election was marred by multiple irregularities and corrupt practices.
The petitioners alleged a high record of over-voting in the election and prayed the tribunal to nullify the election over non-serialisation of ballots, incorrect collation of figures, and erroneous computation of scores in 765 polling units.
The petitioners also argued that the election was marred by non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
It was equally the contention of the petitioners that INEC failed to serialise and pre-record some of the sensitive materials that were deployed for the poll, a situation they said aided the rigging of the election in favour of the APC and its candidate.
In the course of the trial, the petitioners called 19 witnesses to defend their claim that the election was marred with irregularities and should be nullified, while INEC, the 1st respondent, did not call any witnesses.
The petitioners subpoenaed a Senior Technical Officer from INEC’s ICT Department, who tendered 154 BVAS machines from 133 polling units to the tribunal to support their allegations of over-voting.
Okpebholo, the 2nd respondent in the petition, called a lone witness, while the APC, the third respondent, called four witnesses before closing its defence.
While the petitioners urged the tribunal to nullify the election as they had presented sufficient evidence to prove their allegations, the respondents, on their part, prayed the tribunal to dismiss the petition on the grounds that the contentions of the petitioners were without merit.
They claimed the petitioners failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt their claims that Ighodalo, not Okpebholo, won the election.
The tribunal, in its judgment, led by Justice Kpochi, held that the petitioners did not convince the court in linking the allegations to the evidence tendered.
The tribunal held that it is clear that the documents, which include the voters register, the BVAS machine, and form EC8a, were required to prove the allegations of overvoting, but the petitioners failed to demonstrate it.
The tribunal also said most of the witnesses who testified for the petitioners gave hearsay evidence.
“We hold that the failure by the petitioners to call polling unit agents presiding officers or other registered voters was fatal to the case.
“It still remains the law that documents do not speak for themselves. A petitioner must prove their evidence. The allegation of non-compliance must be proved.
“It is not for us to sit back and look at it. Among the other plentitude of documents dumped on us, we still require evidence that shows that there was an extra recording of votes.
“The BVAS machine was clearly dumped and remains dormant. None of the witnesses could speak to the BVAS machine. The machines were not demonstrated to prove the allegations of overvoting.
“All the evidence documents tendered by the petitioners to prove overvoting fall short of the requirements.
“The law requires that the petitioners shall call witnesses to link the evidence rendered,” the tribunal held.
Justice Kpochi also said when an election is conducted in flagrant disobedience to the orders of the electoral Act, such an election is said to be conducted not in compliance with the electoral Act but the petitioners failed to prove that the Independent National Electoral Commission did not comply with the provisions of the electoral Act in the conduct of the elections.
“The petitioners failed to prove that the first defendant did not comply with the provisions of the electoral act or INEC rules of conduct as required by law”, Justice Kpochi stated.
The tribunal also held that, as against the petitioners’ claims by their witnesses, there are serial numbers on the ballot papers. “There are figures here,” Justice Kpochi said.
The tribunal dismissed the allegation that there was no prior recording of the electoral material before the commencement of voting and dismissed the petitioners’ petition.
In the Edo state governorship poll, INEC declared that Okpebholo polled 291,667, emerging the winner, while Ighodalo and PDP polled 247,655 votes in second position.
The Federal Government has inaugurated a 10-member independent committee to investigate the deaths of 37 people detained by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Niger State over suspected illegal mining.
The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, inaugurated the committee on Tuesday in Abuja, following a directive by President Bola Tinubu for a comprehensive investigation into the incident.
The committee is chaired by retired Deputy Director-General of the Department of State Services, Jonathan Kure, while a former Director-General of the Nigerian Law School, Prof Isa Hayatu Chiroma, SAN, will serve as secretary.
Other members are retired AIG Hosea Hassan Karma; Prof Olayinka Buhari, a professor of Histopathology and former Chief Medical Director of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital; a representative of the Minna Emirate Council; and a representative of the Niger State Government.
The United States has refused to issue visas for members of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s delegation, including his communications team, for this week’s trip to the UN General Assembly, Iranian state media reported Monday.
Pezeshkian will be the highest-ranking Iranian official to enter the United States since the Middle East war began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February.
“In an unprecedented hostile move by the US government, (US President Donald) Trump has denied US visas to certain members of the president’s high-level delegation, including members of his communications team,” state news agency IRNA reported.
The Mehr news agency also carried the story, citing a spokesperson for the Iranian presidency, and added that Pezeshkian will address the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.
The US has authorised the Iranian delegation to travel for the UN General Assembly but will, like last year, put restrictions in place.
Iran’s delegation will not, for instance, be allowed to purchase luxury goods or other items, the State Department said on Thursday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, part of the delegation to the UN, left Iran on Sunday evening for a stopover in Qatar.
Iran says it has conveyed to the US, via Qatar as mediator, conditions for reopening the strategic Strait of Hormuz oil and gas shipping route, which it has choked off since the war began.
The United States, in turn, is imposing a counterblockade of Iranian ports.
AFP
Civil servants under the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council, JNPSNC, Trade Union Side, have written to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, demanding an urgent intervention to address the worsening economic hardship facing workers and their dependants.
The workers called on the Federal Government to stabilise the price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, at N500 per litre, approve an immediate Wage Award and upwardly review salaries and allowances across the public service.
They also demanded the immediate constitution of a committee to negotiate a new National Minimum Wage ahead of January 2027.
In a letter addressed to the President at the State House, Abuja, the workers said the recent increase in fuel prices to N1,430 per litre and above in some locations had further worsened the cost-of-living crisis.
They gave the Federal Government until Wednesday, September 30, 2026, to take action on their demands, warning that the prevailing hardship was creating palpable tension among workers and Nigerians.
The JNPSNC said the removal of fuel subsidy three years ago had triggered an astronomical increase in fuel prices and produced multiplier effects on the prices of essential commodities across the economy.
The council said the situation had made life increasingly unbearable for workers, adding that the provision of food palliatives was not a sustainable solution to the economic crisis.
It said: “It has dawned on Nigerian workers that the provision of palliatives such as bags of rice, Indomie, vegetable oil, garri, among other edible foods, is as good as weaponising Nigerians with poverty because it is a Pyrrhic intervention which is unsustainable, inaccessible to the majority of Nigeria’s population and also limited to political cronies.”
The workers argued that a more sustainable intervention would be to reduce the cost of fuel to N500 per litre, saying the measure would have a multiplier effect across the economy.
“Consequent upon the above, it is preferable that the Federal Government should provide an intervention that will trickle down to all Nigerians by making fuel available at an affordable amount as low as N500 (five hundred Naira), the amount at which fuel was being sold when the subsidy was first removed in the year 2023,” they said.
The council identified the restoration of workers’ purchasing power, improved productivity and service delivery, promotion of integrity and accountability, and the reinforcement of trust and industrial peace as major reasons for its demand for improved remuneration.
On fuel prices, the workers said the government should “look inward and stabilize the prices of fuel to an affordable minimum,” arguing that fuel remained an essential commodity with significant implications for the Nigerian economy.
“As a matter of reality, the current hardship being faced by the hapless Nigerian workers is caused by the astronomical increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to as much as N1,430.00, or more per one litre (this is a killing amount),” the council stated.
The JNPSNC further called for an intervention fund for stakeholders in the oil sector to stabilise fuel prices and eventually bring the pump price down to N500 per litre.
The council said the government could adopt another description for the intervention if the term “fuel subsidy” was considered unacceptable.
“The fuel intervention fund will give the opportunity to every Nigerian to benefit from the intervention fund because it will have multiplier effect in the life of every Nigerian and will naturally trickle down to the downtrodden and all the remotest parts of the country,” it said.
The council also endorsed a position attributed to Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Joe Ajaero, on measures to address the fuel crisis.
Ajaero was quoted as saying: “Nigeria as an oil-producing country we have sufficient local refining capacity even as this substantially resides with the private sector.”
He also said: “As a nation, and as a people endowed with enormous fossil resources, we are deserving of a certain level of protection or buffer against the gales from the Gulf, and indeed, other gales.”
According to the NLC position cited by the council, “As part of the process of creating this buffer government should sell sufficient crude in Naira to our local refineries; expand our national storage capacity in pursuance of meeting energy emergencies and security. These measures will create jobs, economic value as well as deal with mutating security challenges.”
The statement further said: “There is nothing wrong with government subsidizing the needs of citizens, especially in emergency situations like this. At the moment, there is no oil-producing country we know of that has not intervened or come up with sustainable palliatives in one way or the other in these perilous times.”
The NLC position also stated: “Government is making extra money in the international spot market (of between USD35 and 40 per barrel above the budgeted figure). This translates to trillions of Naira a month.”
It added: “On a long term basis, we are equally concerned that local refineries are importing crude. This is unreasonable and unacceptable and defeats the logic and purpose of local capacity.”
The JNPSNC said it “wholeheartedly subscribe[s] to the submission of NLC leadership” and urged the government to consider the proposals for urgent implementation.
On wages, the council demanded the immediate introduction of a Wage Award covering Federal, State and Local Government workers.
“Wage Award as an urgent intervention and upward review of salaries and allowances of all serving Public Servants in the Nigeria Public Service should be provided with immediate effect to cut across all Federal, State and Local Government workers,” it said.
According to the council, the Wage Award would serve as a precursor to the substantive New National Minimum Wage expected to take effect in January 2027.
The workers also demanded the immediate setting up of a committee to negotiate the new National Minimum Wage, saying early commencement of the process would prevent delays in implementation.
“There is urgent need to immediately set up committee for the negotiation of New National Minimum Wage to accelerate the commencement of the New National Minimum Wage before 2027 so that it can take effect from January, 2027,” the council stated.
The JNPSNC proposed that the minimum salary payable to an officer on Grade Level 01, Step 1, should be N500,000 per month under the 2027 salary template.
The council also called for harmonised wages across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), while urging that the review be encouraged at the State and Local Government levels.
It further demanded periodic salary and allowance adjustments linked to inflation, as well as welfare measures including subsidised transportation and affordable housing for civil servants.
The council said public servants remained “the backbone of governance and national development” and the “live wire of any administration,” noting that workers were responsible for policy formulation, implementation of government programmes and the provision of essential public services.
It said rising inflation, fuel prices, transportation costs and the increasing cost of food, housing, healthcare and education had eroded the real value of workers’ salaries.
“Many workers are now struggling to meet basic financial obligations, which has inevitably affected the morale, motivation, and overall productivity within the Public Service,” it stated.
The JNPSNC urged the President to direct the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) to commence discussions with the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria TUC, JNPSNC and other relevant stakeholders on the Wage Award and upward review of salaries and allowances.
The council said: “Your Excellency, we trust that this request will receive the prompt attention and action it deserves in the interest of Nigerian workers and their dependants, the Public Service as an age-long institution and the nation at large on or before Wednesday 30th September, 2026 to douse the palpable tension that may erupt.”
It also expressed the expectation that the President’s Independence Day broadcast would address the concerns raised by workers.
“It is the high expectations of Nigerian workers and all patriotic Nigerians that your Independence Day broadcast will attend to our sincere suggestions in order to bring succour and life back to all dying Nigerians,” the council said.
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