Supreme Court confirms Oborevwori as Delta PDP guber candidate

Sherrif Oborevwori’s candidacy as the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) nominee for governor of Delta State has been upheld by the Supreme Court.

Amina Augie’s five-member panel of the Supreme Court, which rendered its judgement on Friday, upheld the Abuja Court of Appeal’s ruling.

Oborevwori received 590 votes during the PDP primary in May, defeating David Edevbie, the finance commissioner under the James Ibori administration, who received 113 votes.

Ifeanyi Okowa, the current governor, is believed to favor Oborevwori, the speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, while James Ibori, a former governor, is said to support Edevbie.

A federal high court in Abuja’s ruling ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognize Edevbie as the PDP’s validly chosen candidate for the governorship election was rejected by the Court of Appeal in August.

Read also:Supreme Court dismisses suit demanding zoning of PDP presidential ticket to South-East

Edevbie had sued Oborevwori and the party after becoming upset with the primary’s results, citing errors in Oborevwori’s certifications.

Oborevwori was disqualified by Taiwo Taiwo, judge of the federal high court, for allegedly providing fake information to INEC to support his nomination as the PDP’s candidate.

Oborevwori appealed the High Court’s decision because he was dissatisfied with it.

In its decision, the Court of Appeal concluded that the High Court erred by relying on the plaintiff’s originating summons.

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

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