S’court reserves judgment in three appeals challenging Delta guber result

The supreme court has reserved judgment on three separate appeals seeking to nullify the election of Sheriff Oborevwori as Delta state governor.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Oborevwori, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the winner of the governorship election held on March 18.

Aggrieved by the outcome of the poll, other candidates, including Ovie Omo-Agege, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ken Pela of the Labour Party (LP) and Kenneth Gbagi of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), filed separate petitions before the governorship tribunal.

However, all the appeals were dismissed by the tribunal.

The court of appeal also affirmed Oborevwori’s election.

At the supreme court session on Tuesday, the appellants, through their respective counsels, faulted the verdicts of the two lower courts.

Omo-Agege contended that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act.

He told the apex court that the results of the governorship election were not properly recorded at some polling units, adding that the forms that contained some of the recorded results did not have serial numbers.

Gbagi on the other hand prayed the court to declare that Oborevwori was not eligible to contest the election.

Pela, the LP candidate, prayed the supreme court to nullify the entire election and order a fresh one.

After listening to all parties, a five-member panel of the court said a date for judgment would be communicated.