The Supreme Court, on Friday 19 January 2024, affirmed the election victory of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State.
Delivering the judgment in a unanimous decision, a five-member panel of the apex court dismissed an appeal the All Progressives Congress, APC, and its candidate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, filed to challenge the outcome of the governorship election held in the state on March 18, 2023.
In its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Inyang Okoro, held that the appeal lacked merit.
The apex Court held that the APC and its candidate did not prove that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2023.
The court voided Omo-Agege’s contention that some of the result sheets that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, relied upon to announce Oborevwori as the duly elected winner of the election, did not have serial numbers.
The court said, even if the total number of INEC forms that the Appellants complained about are taken out, it would still not affect the margin of lead that was in favour of Oborevwori.
It held that the Appellants could not discharge the burden of proof placed on them by the law to warrant the setting aside of both the Court of Appeal judgement and the verdict of the Delta State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal. As a result, the petition was dismissed without cost.
Recall that INEC declared that Oborevwori of the PDP scored 360, 234 votes to win the governorship election ahead of Omo-Agege of the APC who secured 240, 229 votes.
In a related development, the Apex Court has also affirmed the election of the Ogun state Governor Dapo Abiodun as the duly elected governor of the state.
Details shortly…
