The tortuous legal tussle over the 2007 Delta State gubernatorial poll ended yesterday with the Court of Appeal sitting in Benin City annulling the election of Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan. A fresh election was ordered in the state within 90 days beginning from the day of judgement.
The decision followed the appeal brought by Mr Great Ogboru of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) against Uduaghan who had governed the state since May 2007.
Chief Ogboru had sued Dr. Uduaghan and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at a Federal High Court in Asaba, alleging that the election of April 14, 2007 was rigged in favour of Uduaghan and the PDP. But the court delivered a judgment in favour of the governor, ruling that he won the election having scored more votes.
Dissatisfied with the court’s ruling, Chief Ogboru had filed an appeal at the Federal Court of Appeal in Benin City the Edo State capital where a five-man panel of justices ruled that ‘the election was characterized with a lot of irregularities.’
Daily Sun gathered that the court sat at 3.pm to deliver the judgement and eventually dropped the bombshell at about 7.pm.
In a unanimous judgement the court said: “After looking at the submissions of counsel to both parties and the submission by INEC counsel it was obvious that the election was characterized with a lot of irregularities.
“There were a lot of election malpractices by the umpire in favour of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, which placed undue advantage on him and his party at the detriment of other contestants in the election.”
Earlier, the appeal panel had dismissed the petition brought by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate, Peter Okocha, seeking the nullification of Uduaghan’s election because of his exclusion from the polls by INEC.
Yesterday’s judgment sparked jubilation in Asaba, the State capital and Warri.
Particularly, commercial motorcycle riders popularly called Okada were seen performing all manner of stunts as they jubilated wildly in the oil city of Warri. Speaker of the House of Assembly will step in as acting governor pending the holding of a fresh election.
When contacted on phone last night, Delta Commissioner for Information, Mr, Oma Djebah said the state government would issue a statement on the development but added that it was yet to receive the ruling.
source:sun
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