Okowa Floors Ibori As Supreme Court Affirms Delta Speaker PDP Guber Candidate

The political struggle for who controls the levers of power in Delta State may have been put to rest after Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s anointed candidate for the 2023 governorship election, Sherrif Oborevwori, was affirmed the legitimate candidate for the party in the state.

The victory of Oborevwori is another blow for former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, who has tried to use the 2023 election to relaunch his political career.

Ibori since his release from the UK prison after serving jail time for corruption and money laundering has kept a low profile until the primaries of the PDP ahead of the 2023 elections that were held some months ago.

He sponsored many aspirants for various positions but at the top of the pile is Olorogun David Edevbie, seen as his political godson.

The battle in which both contestants won one each at the trial and appellate courts moved to the Supreme Court with the decisive decision on Friday.

While the Federal High Court had declared Edevbie the PDP legal candidate, the Appeal Court overturned the decision and named the Speaker the candidate.

Ruling on the appeal lodged by Edevbie, the apex court, in a unanimous decision by a five-man panel led by Justice Amina Augie, said the appellant failed to prove beyond reasonable doubts his allegation since it borders on criminality.

Edevbie had prayed the court to rule in his favour alleging that Oborevwori submitted false and forged documents to the PDP, in aid of his qualification to contest the election billed for March 11, 2023.

In an affidavit deposed in court, he said whereas Oborevwori had in an affidavit he deposed to, claimed that he was born in 1963, he, however, tendered a West African Examination Council, WAEC, certificate that was issued to someone that was born in 1979.

He further alleged that all the documents Oborevwori tendered to his party, in support of his qualification to contest the election, did not match his name at birth.

He prayed the apex court to seize the opportunity and rule in his favour based on“the new legal regime introduced by section 29(5) of the Electoral Act, 2022”.

Citing the section, he said the section provided that any aspirant that participated in the primary of a political party and has reasonable ground to believe that any information given by his political party’s candidate, in relation to the constitutional requirement for qualification for the election was false, could approach the court to challenge the eligibility of such candidate.

However, in its judgement, the apex court held that allegations that border on criminality must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

The apex court, therefore, contended that in view of “sundry allegations of fraud, false representation and forgery of documents” raised against Oborevwori, the Appellant, ought to have commenced his action through a Writ of Summons that would have allowed the trial court to adjudge the matter through oral and documentary evidence.

It noted that such allegations could not be resolved through affidavit evidence or Originating Summons.

It accused Oborevwori of being too hasty as PDP had not submitted Oborevwori’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, before he filed the suit, declaring his application “premature.”

“Only upon the submission of particulars of a candidate to INEC by a political party will a cause of action crystallize”.

The lead judgment delivered by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, said there was no reason to set aside the Court of Appeals verdict that earlier upheld Oborevwori’s nomination.

“In conclusion, I found no merit in this appeal and it is accordingly dismissed,” Justice Abubakar ruled.