THE COURT INSTRUCTS THE DELTA GOVERNORSHIP DISPUTE TRIBUNAL TO HEAR LP’S CLAIM.

Tunji Wusu –

The Labour Party (LP) and its candidate in the most recent election, Ken Pela, filed a suit with the Court of Appeal in Abuja challenging the election of Sheriff Oborevwori of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The court directed the Delta State Governorship Election suit Tribunal to hear the petition on the merits.
Yesterday, a three-member panel of the appellate court ruled that, contrary to the tribunal’s conclusion, Pela and his party had not given up on their petition.

The petition was then returned to the tribunal for hearing within the Electoral Act’s timeframe by the court.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and six other parties were the targets of an appeal Pela and his party filed.

Pela of the LP, who finished third behind Oborevwori and Senator Ovie Omo-Agege of the All Progressives Congress (APC), had contested the election’s results and asked the tribunal to, among other things, nullify Oborevwori’s declaration of victory.

As a result of improperly filed petitioners’ requests for pre-hearing sessions, the tribunal, presided over by Justice C. H. Achuchaogu, ruled on July 6 that the case was deemed abandoned.

The tribunal continued to deny the petition, stating among other things that “the petition was incompetent and a flagrant violation of Paragraph 18(1) of the 4th Schedule of the Electoral Act 2023.”