Supreme court affirms Oborevwori as Delta PDP guber candidate

The supreme court has affirmed the nomination of Sherrif Oborevwori as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta state.

Delivering judgment on Friday, a five-member panel of the apex court, led by Amina Augie, upheld the decision of the Abuja court of appeal.

During the PDP primary in May, Oborevwori polled 590 votes to beat David Edevbie, the commissioner for finance during the James Ibori administration, who polled 113 votes.

Oborevwori, speaker of Delta state house of assembly, is the preferred candidate of Ifeanyi Okowa, the incumbent governor, while James Ibori, a former governor, is said to be backing Edevbie.

In August, the court of appeal overturned the judgement of an Abuja federal high court which directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Edevbie as the duly elected candidate of the PDP for the governorship election.

Aggrieved by the outcome of the primary, Edevbie had filed a suit against Oborevwori and the party, citing discrepancies in Oborevwori’s certificates.

Taiwo Taiwo, judge of the federal high court, had disqualified Oborevwori for allegedly submitting false information to INEC to back his nomination as PDP’s candidate.

Not satisfied with the high court’s verdict, Oborevwori filed an appeal.

In its ruling, the court of appeal held that the high court erred when it relied on the originating summons brought by the plaintiff.

“There is no scintilla of evidence on record to prove that the appellant tendered forged certificate to the INEC,” the appeal court had said.