Supreme Court Dismisses Delta SDP Candidate’s Appeal

The Supreme Court has dismissed an interlocutory appeal brought before it by the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Kenneth Gbagi, in the governorship election held in Delta State on March 18.

Gbagi is disputing the declaration of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the validly elected governor of Delta state, through his team of lawyers led by Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN).

He approached the apex court to set aside a concurrent ruling that both the Delta State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, delivered against him.

Gbagi, who is disputing the declaration of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of the PDP as the valid winner of the gubernatorial contest, had through his team of lawyers approached the apex court to set aside a concurrent ruling that both the Delta State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, delivered against him.

He told the court that Justice H. C. Ahuchaogu-led three-member panel tribunal, denied him fair hearing, when it refused to admit a vital proof of evidence that he sought to tender in aid of the petition he lodged against governor Oborevwori. 

The appellant maintained that the tribunal, without recourse to the tenets of justice, rejected the document he sought to tender in evidence, among which included a gazette, on the premise that it was not pleaded in the petition.

Dissatisfied with the decision of the tribunal, Gbagi took the matter before the Court of Appeal, where he also lost.

Dismissing Gbagi’s application as an abuse of the court process, the appellate court held that the tribunal effectively exercised its discretion, judicially and judiciously.