On Tuesday, the Supreme Court reserved its judgments on appeals challenging the elections of Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang and three other separate appeals challenging the election of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State.
Justice Inyang Okoro, presiding over a five-man panel of the Supreme Court, announced that the date of judgments would be communicated to the parties involved. Okoro specified that the judgment for the Plateau State governorship appeal would be delivered before January 16, and for Delta State, before January 22.
In a recent judgment, the Court of Appeal voided the election of Governor Mutfwang, who contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), declaring Nentawe Goshwe of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner as noted by Headlinenews.news journalism team.
Delta Governor Oborevwori faced three separate appeals filed by Kenneth Gbaji of the Social Democratic Party, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege of the APC, and Ken Pela of the Labour Party (LP).
During the Supreme Court proceedings, Mr. Kanu Agabi, SAN, the Plateau governor’s counsel, urged the apex court to set aside the appellate court’s judgment and affirm the decision of the election petition tribunal. Agabi argued against considering the alleged disobedience to a subsisting order of court, claiming it was not grounds for disqualifying a candidate sponsored by a political party.
Justice Inyang Okoro raised concerns about the court sacking almost all the candidates that contested on the PDP platform in Plateau State over a subsisting court order. Agabi addressed the court on the PDP’s compliance with the court order and argued that the court below departed from judicial precedence on the issue of sponsorship.
The Supreme Court reserved its judgment after hearing arguments from both counsels. The verdict is expected on or before January 16, coinciding with the expiration of the appeal period.
In the appeal challenging the election of Delta Governor Oborevwori, lead counsel Ahmed Raji SAN adopted the appellant’s brief of argument and 10 reply briefs. Raji prayed the court to allow the appeal and declare the SDP candidate as the winner of the March 18, 2023 election. INEC and other respondents urged the court to dismiss the appeal for lack of merit.
