BREAKING: Supreme Court Upholds Delta Gov Oborevwori’s Election Victory

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the appeal challenging the election of Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The appeals were entered by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, former Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege.

The other appeals were filed by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Labour party(LP) and their respective governorship candidates.

The Court of Appeal and the Delta State Election Petition Tribunal had affirmed the election of Oborevwori, saying allegations of non-compliance and electoral malpractice against him were not substantiated.

But the legal team of SDP, APC and PDP, approached the apex court asking that the governor should be removed.

Counsel for Ovie Omo-Agege of the APC, Robert E, argued that the Electoral Act mandates that an election should be annulled when sensitive electoral materials don’t have serial numbers on them.

But Damian Dodo, counsel for the governor, urged the apex court to affirm the judgment of the lower courts because the appellants had no case.

According to Dodo, in the relevant electoral laws, there are no provisions stating that an election can be annulled because of lack of serial numbers on electoral materials.

Passing its judgment on Friday, the apex court’s five-man panel chaired by Justice Inyang Okoro, said it is clear that there was substantial compliance with the Electoral Act.

Okoro added that in any case, the electoral forms in dispute cannot affect the spread of votes won by the governor.

Okoro held that overall, the appellants were unable to prove that there was non-compliance to the Electoral, adding that “the appeal is dismissed.”