Legal fireworks are scheduled to resume at the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on August 19 in a suit filed by the Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, Mr. Sherriff Oborevwori, challenging his sack as the winner of the May 25 governorship primary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State.
Recall former Delta State Commissioner of Finance, Olorogun David Edevbie had been declared as Oborevwori’s replacement by the Federal High Court Abuja.
Oborevwori is seeking to upturn the July 7 victory of Edevbie at the Court.
Justice Taiwo Taiwo had on July 7, 2022 disqualified the speaker as governorship candidate of the PDP over discrepancies in the certificates and other documents he filed for nomination as the governorship candidate of the PDP for the 2023 polls.
The court had ordered both the party and Independent National Electorial Commission (INEC) to recognise Olorogun Edevbie as rightful and lawful candidate of the party for the forthcoming election.
But dissatisfied with the rulings of the court, Oborevwori approached the Court of Appeal to challenge the decision of the Federal High Court.
Olorogun Edevbie had in a letter by his counsel, Eko Ejembi Eko (SAN) to the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Yakub Mahmu, demanded that the electoral umpire should comply with the court’s directive and replace his name with that of Oborevwori without further delay.
Presently, the PDP has no governorship candidate as neither the name of Oborevwori nor Edevbie and their running mates featured on the list which was recently released by INEC in Asaba.
The state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Delta State, Monday Udoh-Tom insisted that there were presently no particulars of any candidate for PDP.
Udoh-Tom disclosed: “We have no particulars of any candidate for PDP as far as the governorship is concerned because they are in court. It is when the matter is determined that we will now have the particulars of one of them.
“You will recall that there was a court judgement that disqualified one of them, and he filed for stay of execution and also appealed the judgement.
“As a result, we cannot act on the case of the PDP for now until the Appeal Court delivers judgement.”
