Supreme Court Throws Out Appeals Filed Against Delta, Yobe, Oyo Governors

The appeals filed against the election of the Governors of Delta, Yobe and Oyo States at the Supreme Court in Nigeria have been dismissed. This was done in a unanimous judgment, led by Justice Walter Onnoghen in a seven-man panel of the Apex Court, which dismissed the appeals filed by Mr Great Ogboru of the Labour Party and Emerhor Ortega of the All Progressives Congress, challenging the election of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State. The court also dismissed the appeal filed by the governorship candidate of the Accord Party, Mr Rashidi Ladoja and that of Mr Maina Waziri of the Peoples Democratic Party, who both challenged the elections of Governors Abiola Ajumobi of Oyo State and Ibrahim Gaidem of Yobe State. The apex court justices said it dismissed the appeals because of the lack of merit, but deferred reasons for their decisions to February 15, 2016. It would be recalled that the journey to the Supreme Court by the aggrieved candidates began at the various Tribunals where all three appeals were dismissed for lack of merit. And then, it proceeded to the appellate court which also agreed with the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Delta, Oyo and Yobe States respectively. Having been dismissed by the appeal court, the defendants then brought their cases to the apex court, which was a final court of decision. The parties in the suites, then adopted their briefs as their arguments. After the hearing for and against the appeal, the seven-man panel of justices, led by Justice Onnoghene retired for 45 minutes. The judges went on to write and conclude on their judgments and came back with decisions on the different appeals. And then, in less than 15 minutes, the panel passed a unanimous judgment. The judgement was against the three appeals for lack of merit and abuse of court process.