The Supreme Court, on Friday, affirmed the election victory of Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying that Oborevwori was duly elected by the people of the state and in accordance with the Electoral Act.
The apex court, in a unanimous decision by a five-member panel, dismissed an appeal by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, challenging the outcome of the governorship election in the state on March 18, 2023.
The apex court, in its lead judgement delivered by Justice Inyang Okoro, also held that the appeal of Omo-Agege, who was also the former Deputy Senate President, lacked merit.
The Supreme Court also held that the APC and its candidate failed to prove that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act. 2023.
The apex court further dismissed Omo-Agege’s contention that some of the result sheets that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) relied upon to declare Oborevwori as the winner of the election, did not have serial numbers.
The Supreme Court added even if the total number of INEC forms that the APC and Omo-Agege complained about were removed, it would still not affect the margin of lead that was in Oborevwori’s favour.
According to the apex court, APC and Omo-Agege failed to discharge the burden of proof placed on them by the law to warrant the setting aside the concurrent judgments of the Delta State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal.
The Supreme Court consequently dismissed the APC and Omo-Agege’s appeal without cost.
It is instructive to note that INEC had earlier declared that Oborevwori polled 360, 234 votes to win the election and defeated Omo-Agege who secured 240, 229 votes.
But Omo-Agege later approached the Delta State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, asking it to nullify the outcome of the election.
In its judgment in the matter, the tribunal dismissed Omo-Agege’s petition and upheld the election of Governor Oborevwori.
Dissatisfied, the APC and Omo-Agege approached the Court of Appeal for redress while the appellate court dismissed the application of Omo-Agege and affirmed the election of Governor Oborevwori.
