Court upholds election of Oborevwori as candidate for PDP governorship in the Delta

The Federal High Court in Warri has upheld the primary election that produced Sheriff Oborevwori as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate ahead of the 2023 elections.

In Okon Abang's judgment on Friday, the court ruled that the PDP primary election held on May 25 was validly conducted in accordance with the party's constitution and election guidelines.

This comes less than a month after another branch of the Abuja court sacked Mr. Oborevwori as the party's candidate for governor in the state.

The Abuja Division's decision was based on alleged inconsistencies in the names on university certificates that Mr. Oborevwori submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In the July 7 judgment, Abuja Branch Judge Taiwo Taiwo ordered that Mr. Oborevwori be replaced by David Edevbie, a former finance commissioner in the former administration of Governor James Ibori, in as the Delta State of the PDP. candidate for governor.

But the Warri division of the court confirmed on Friday that Mr. Oborevwori was the validly elected candidate for the governorship of the PDP.

The court in its judgment dismissed the complaint filed by a gubernatorial candidate on the PDP platform, Ike Aghwarianovwe, who alleged that the May 25 primary election won by Mr Oborevwori was tainted overvotes, among other offences.

But according to Mr. Abang, in Friday's judgment, "there was no overvote in the said primary election which produced the 2nd defendant (Mr. Oborevwori) as the candidate of the 1st defendant (PDP) in the 2023 gubernatorial election.

He asserted that the PDP “has complied with its Constitution and Electoral Guidelines of 2022, the Electoral Law of 2022, INEC guidelines in holding the primary elections of May 25, 2022 which made the 2nd Respondent the winner of said election".

He dismissed the plaintiff's suit for lack of merit.

He said that Mr. Oborevwori "was duly elected the winner of the 1st Respondent's gubernatorial primary election held on May 25, 2022, having obtained the highest number of legal votes in said primary election in accordance with the constitution of the 1st Respondent (PDP) and its 2022 Election Guidelines.”

He also awarded the cost of N100,000 in favor of each of the nine defendants, including PDP, Mr. Oborevwori and INEC sued by the plaintiff.

The plaintiff, Mr. Aghwarianovwe, had sued the nine defendants, including members of the PDP gubernatorial election committee, urging the court to issue a perpetual injunction preventing the INEC from recognizing Mr. Oborevwori as the election of the governorship of the party.

Alleging that the primary election was conducted in violation of laws, as well as party guidelines and election guidelines, the plaintiff urged the court to overturn the result of the May 25, 2022 primary election.< /p>

He also urged the court to declare that the party “does not have a standard bearer for the 2023 gubernatorial elections for Delta State.”

The battle over who will get the PDP governor's ticket ahead of the state's 2023 gubernatorial election is an extension of the rivalry between incumbent governor Ifeanyi Okowa and his predecessor and former political benefactor, James Ibori.

While Mr. Okowa backs Mr. Oborevwori, who is the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Ibori backs a protege, Mr. Edevbie.

Mr. Edevbie, who came second to Mr. Oborevwori in the May 25 primary elections, served as finance commissioner in the Ibori administration.

Mr. Ibori's camp scored a major victory when the Federal High Court in Abuja, in its July 7 judgment, sacked Oborevwori and replaced him with Mr. Edevbie as the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in the state.

The court upheld Mr. Edevbie's suit by disqualifying Mr. Oborevwori and declaring him ineligible to contest the primary elections.

She found that the inconsistencies in the names on Mr. Oborevwori's certificates submitted to the INEC in support of his candidacy amounted to providing false information to the...