Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, has won the appeal filed against the ruling of the Federal High Abuja that disqualified him as the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State
The Federal High Court Abuja had on July 7, 2022 disqualified Oborevwori as the lawful candidate of PDP for Delta and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the PDP to recognise Olorogun David Edevbie as the candidate of the party.
Not satisfied with the Abuja High Court judgement, Oborevwori and the PDP headed to the Court of Appeal to seek redress. On August 8, 2022, a three-member panel of the Appeal Court led by Justice Peter Ige sat on the matter and fixed August 19, 2022 for proper hearing of the appeal case.
On August 19, after counsel adopted their arguments, Justice Ige reserved judgment and disclosed that the date to pass the judgement would be communicated to all parties involved in the case later.
On Monday, 29 August, the case was called at the Appeal Court for judgement. Delivering the judgement of the three-member panel, Justice Ige ruled that the allegations of fraud such as fake documents can not be resolved by originating summon.
The Appeal Court also ruled that the case of forgery cannot be decided by affidavit evidence, with the court also ruling that the suit ought to have been commenced by writ of summons and not originating summons.
The court also held that since the matter is founded on the presentation of forged documents, it will require the calling of witnesses. The court also held that the cause of action of David has not crystalized for the court to assume jurisdiction and that originating summon was wrongly done.
The Appeal Court also held that the lower court had no jurisdiction to entertain the suit and further held that the right of Edevbie to approach the court can only accrue when INEC publishes the personal particulars of Oborevwori and that Edevbie’s case was not ripe because Sheriff’s name has not been sent to INEC.
The court also held that the Federal High Court misconstrued the provisions of Section 29 of the Electoral Act and that the reasoning of the Federal High Court on the interpretation of Section 29 is erroneous.
“The judgement of the learned trial court is erroneous and is null and void as it was done without jurisdiction. Issue one is resolved in favour of the appellant,” the Appeal Court rules