Appeal court orders tribunal to revisit LP gov. candidate’s petition against Delta Governor, Oborevwori

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has ordered the Delta State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Asaba to revisit the petition of Mr. Ken Pela, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party, against the state governor, Sheriff Oborevwori.

SaharaReporters gathered the appellate court gave this order on Thursday morning while delivering a ruling on the interlocutory appeal filed by Mr Pela against the dismissal of his petition at the tribunal.

The Tribunal dismissed the petition of Mr. Pela in July, claiming that it was incompetent and a flagrant violation of paragraph 18 subsection 1 of the 4th Schedule to the Electoral Act 2022.

Pela, in his petition EPT/DL/GOV/01/23, is challenging the outcome of the 2023 governorship election in the state and seeking leave of the tribunal to nullify the declaration of Oborevwori as the Delta State governor.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was joined in the petition as 1st respondent while Governor Oborevwori and his Deputy, Monday Onyeme are 2nd and 3rd respondents respectively with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the 4th respondent.

Dissatisfied with the tribunal decision, Pela went to the Court of Appeal to ask among other things for an order to compel the Tribunal to entertain his petitions.

“The fact is that Ken Pela’s case that was recently struck out at the tribunal is what the Appeal Court asked the Tribunal to revisit again.

“Ken Pela’s case today (Thursday) at the Court of Appeal was only interlocutory, which means they will go back to the Tribunal panel sitting in Delta to continue their case,” a source privy to the matter told SaharaReporters.

Quadri Olaitan