The sacked governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratoc Party (PDP) in Delta State, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, has appealed a Federal High Court judgement, which sacked him as governorship candidate for the 2023 gubernatorial election in the State.
Oborevwori, who also is the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, filed a Notice and Grounds of Appeal, through his counsel, Joe Odey Agi (SAN).
He submitted that being dissatisfied with the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja Judicial Division delivered on July 7, 2022 in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/795/2022 by Honourable Justice Taiwo O. Taiwo, hence his decision to approach the Court of Appeal.
The Speaker who raised nine grounds of appeal against the judgement in his notice of appeal filed at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, said upon the grounds set out in paragraph 3 and will at the hearing of the appeal seek the reliefs set out in paragraph 4 hereof.
Oborevwori also filed along with the notice of appeal, an application for a stay of execution of the verdict delivered last week Thursday by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Challenging the verdict in his notice of appeal, Hon. Oborevwori said the trial judge misdirected himself by wrongly assuming jurisdiction to hear Edevbie’s suit against him.
He argued through his lawyer, Joe Agi, SAN, that no cause of action had arisen to give the plaintiff the right to sue over the candidacy when INEC had yet to publish the names of the party candidates.
“The 1st respondent, on oath, admitted that the name of the appellant was yet to be submitted and the trial court held that the 1st respondent by law, need not wait for the publication of the name of the appellant by the Independent National Electoral Commission, before approaching the court,” the notice of appeal reads in part.
The appellant argued that unless the political party sponsoring a candidate submits the name and INEC publishes the name accompanied by a High Court affidavit indicating that he or she has fulfilled all the constitutional requirements for the election, “that is the only time the court can be approached not before”.
He also argued in another ground of appeal that the trial judge erroneously agreed with Edevbie that he failed to meet the constitutional requirement of sections 177(a) and 182(1)(j) of the Nigerian constitution because of his use of forged certificates.
Oborevwori, who denied submitting forged certificates to INEC, contended that the requirement of sections 177(a) and 182(1)(j) of the Nigerian constitution could only come into play “upon presentation of a forged certificate to INEC and no other body or person which is not the case before the court.”
He said the court “makes mockery of the law” by relying on the documents he submitted to INEC in 2018 for his election to the Delta State House of Assembly of Delta State or to the PDP on April 30, 2022, which was “way after 14 days of the filing of the suit” contrary to section 285(14) of the Nigerian constitution.
The appellant also argued that the judge of the lower court erred in law by holding that he did not challenge the claims that his certificate was forged.
He said the burden of proof “is on the plaintiff and not on the weakness of the case of the defendant.”
Among other grounds, the appellant argued that the case before the court was an intra-party affair of the PDP which he argued that the court had no jurisdiction to entertain.
He faulted the court’s decision for holding that the plaintiff “has proved his case and therefore entitled to judgement”.
He also contended that the trial judge erred in law by glossing over his explanation of the discrepancies in his name backed by a government gazette in a reply he filed on June 17, 2022.
He also sought an order granting his appeal and setting aside the lower court’s judgement.
In a separate application filed at the Federal High Court, the appellant sought an order of stay of execution. He said the judgement, if not stayed, would render the appeal an academic exercise.
