The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the election of Sheriff Oborevwori of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as Governor of Delta State.
The apex court, in a judgement prepared and delivered by Justice John Inyang Okoro, who led a five-member panel of Justices of the Court dismissed all three appeals challenging Oborevwori’s declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the March 28, 2023 governorship election held in Delta state.
The appeals were entered by the Social Democratic Party (SDP), All Progressives Congress (APC), the Labour Party (LP) and their respective governorship candidates in the March 18 governorship election held in Delta state.
The court, in its judgment in the appeal by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate in the Delta governorship election, Ovie Omo-Agege held that there was substantial compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022 in the conduct of the election that produced Oborevwori as governor.
The apex court, in its unanimous judgment, agreed with the lower courts that the appellants were unable to prove the allegation of non-compliance contained in their petition.
“Consequently, this appeal is dismissed for lacking in merit, no order as to cost,” the court held.
Similarly, the apex court dismissed the appeals by the SDP and its governorship candidate, Kenneth Gbaji and that of the Labour Party (LP), Ken Pela challenging the election of Oborevwori as Delta state governor.
Justices Mohammed Lawal Garba and Uwani Abba-Aji who delivered the judgement in the SDP and LP appeals respectively, dismissed them for lacking in merit.
The Court of Appeal and the Delta State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had affirmed the election of Oborevwori, saying allegations of non-compliance and electoral malpractice against him were not substantiated.
The legal team of SDP, APC and PDP, approached the apex court asking that the governor should be removed.
…Details later
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