On Thursday, the Labour Party, LP, and Mr. Ken Pela, its candidate for governor in the state, petitioned the Delta State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal. The Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, directed the tribunal to reopen hearing on the issue.
The LP and its candidate appeared before the tribunal to challenge the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate for governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, in his election.
The petitioners argued in their lawsuit, EPT/DL/GOV/01/2023, that governor Oborevwori was not the rightful victor of the March 18 governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, governor Oborevwori, his deputy and the PDP were identified as respondents in the lawsuit.
The three-member panel tribunal chaired by Justice C. H. Achuchaogu, however, rejected the case on the grounds that the petitioners had abandoned it in an interlocutory order it issued on July 7.
Because the LP and its candidate failed to properly initiate the pre-hearing procedure as required by law, the panel determined that the petition was ruled incompetent.
The petitioners, it was determined, did not adhere to the requirements of paragraph 18 (1) of the fourth schedule to the Electoral Act of 2022.
In addition, the tribunal determined that the petitioners failed to request a pre-hearing notice within the seven-day timeframe allowed by the regulations and afterwards declined to request that further notice be sent.
The petitioners brought the case to the appeal court, however, since they were disappointed with the decision.
They wanted the court explicitly to decide, among other things, whether the tribunal did not commit a gross injustice against them by relying on technicalities to dismiss the petition.
They claimed that the tribunal had refused to give them a fair hearing and the chance to argue against the results of the governorship election in Delta state.
The appeal court ruled on Thursday and, in a unanimous judgement by a three-person panel, sided with the petitioners and nullified the tribunal’s verdict.
The court instructed the panel to proceed and consider the merits of the substantive petition filed by the LP and its candidate.
Remember that according to INEC, Oborevwori of the PDP won the gubernatorial election with 360,234 votes, defeating Ovie Omo-Agege of the All Progressive Party, APC, who received 240,229 votes.
With 48,027 votes, Pela of the LP finished third, while Chief Great Ogboru of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, or APGA, finished fourth.
In the meantime, rumours that the appellate court fired Governor Oborevwori based on the petition by LP’s candidate, Pela, were refuted as false news by the Delta state administration on Thursday.
The governor of Oborevwori’s chief press secretary, Sir. Festus Ahon, responded to the news that went viral on social media by noting that the appeal court had just directed the tribunal to hear Pela’s case.
“We have been inundated by reports from a section of the media that the Appeal Court had declared Mr. Ken Pela of the Labour Party as the winner of the 2023 Governorship election in Delta State,” said Ahon in a statement he made accessible to newsmen.
The Appellate Court just directed the tribunal to hear the matter, therefore the article is nothing but false news.
“It was clear from the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the electoral arbiter, that the Labour Party did not win the election and hence could not have prevailed in court.
“Our people enthusiastically supported Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, who was elected by a big turnout. Therefore, we advise Party members and Deltans to ignore the aforementioned reports as it was a concoction from the Labour Party and their followers.
“We also ask Deltans to have patience. Governor Oborevwori was examining different current projects in Asaba and its surroundings as of the time of the false report.
“He would not be sidetracked by the rumour mills since he is focused on bringing the benefits of democracy to the state’s citizens.
“Our lawyers are studying the Appeal Court judgement with a view to taking necessary action,” he continued.
