Ikie Aghwarianovwe had petitioned the Supreme Court to remove Sheriff Oborevwori as governor of Delta State on the grounds that he had given false information about his educational background and birth date to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
On Friday, a five-person panel of the Supreme Court unanimously declared that Aghwarianovwe’s appeal was denied because he had not demonstrated that the verdicts of the two lower courts were irrational.
On Friday, Justice Emmanuel Agim read the lead judgement written by Justice Adamu Jauro.
The Supreme Court upheld the Asaba division of the Court of Appeal’s May 5, 2023 ruling that Aghwarianovwe had failed to prove his case and that Oborevwori was eligible to run for governor in the most recent election.
Justice Jauro remarked that the appeal failed to provide any evidence that the two lower courts reached contradictory conclusions.
The instant appeal is doomed to fail under any reasonable interpretation because I have carefully considered the arguments of all the parties on the many issues raised.
There is absolutely no way to save it. From the first appeal grounds to the most pressing issue of jurisdiction and finally to the merits, this appeal never stood a chance.
“In light of the foregoing, I cannot see any merit in this appeal. He then went on to uphold the rulings of two lower courts, saying, “I dismiss same.”
A total of six million naira in costs were assessed against the appellant by Justice Jauro and would be split equally between the PDP and Oborevwori as the first and second respondents, respectively.
Justices Agim, Mohammed Garba, Ibrahim Saulawa, and Tijani Abubakar all concurred with the presiding judge’s decision.
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