The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by Ikie Aghwarianovwe seeking the disqualification of the governor of Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori, for allegedly supplying false information about his academic qualification and date of birth to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The suit was dismissed in the lead judgement prepared by Justice Adamu Jauro and delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim on Friday.
The five-member panel of the apex court was unanimous in holding that Mr Aghwarianovwe’s appeal failed because he failed to show that the concurrent decisions of the two lower courts were perverse.
It noted that none of the grounds of the appeal showed that the concurrent findings of the two lower courts were perverse.
The Asaba Division of the Federal High Court held that Mr Aghwarianovwe failed to prove his case and that Mr Oborevwori was qualified to contest the last governorship election in the state.
“After a very detailed consideration of every argument of all the parties on the various issues raised, I find that no matter how the instant appeal is viewed, it is bound to fail.
“There is no saving grace for it, right from the grounds of appeal to the prominent issue of jurisdiction and now to the merit itself, the appeal was dead on arrival, with zero chance of success.
“Flowing from the foregoing, I find no merit in the instant appeal. I dismiss same,” Mr Jauro said and affirmed the earlier decisions of two lower courts.
Mr Jauro also awarded a cost of N6 million against the appellant, to be paid at N3 million each for the first and second respondents – PDP and Mr Oborevwori.
(NAN)
