July 07, (THEWILL) – The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal seeking to sack Sheriff Oborevwori as Delta State Governor.
Chief Ikie Aghwarianovwe, a gubernatorial aspirant of the PDP, had in October 2022, dragged Sheriff Oborevwori and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to court. He alleged that Oborevwori submitted false documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to aid his qualification for the 2019 House of Assembly election in Delta State.
Chief Ikie argued that Oborevwori was not qualified to contest the 2023 gubernatorial election.
Oborevwori and the PDP had objected that the suit was statute-barred, pointing out that documents submitted to INEC in 2018 towards the 2019 general election could not be a ground for disqualification of a candidate in 2023.
Both the trial Court and the Court of Appeal in Abuja upheld the Defendants’ objection.
Dissatisfied, Chief Ikie approached the apex court to quash the ruling of the trial and Appellate courts.
However, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous judgement delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim on Friday, held that the appellant, Chief Ikie, failed to prove his case beyond a reasonable doubt.
According to Justice Agim, “the mere fact that there were differentials in names does not amount to falsity.
“An error in date of birth in a certificate not shown evidentially to emanate from the respondent cannot amount to falsity.”
The court ordered Chief Ikie to pay N3 million each as cost to the PDP and Oborevwori.
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