ABUJA/Nigeria: In a significant ruling on Friday, the Supreme Court of Nigeria dismissed an appeal brought before it by Chief Ikie Aghwarianovwe, who sought the disqualification of Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, on grounds of lacking merit. The apex court, in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, held that the appellant failed to provide substantial evidence to support his case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Justice Agim stated, “The mere fact that there were differentials in names does not amount to falsity. An error in the date of birth on a certificate, not shown evidentially to originate from the respondent, cannot amount to falsity.”
The court, after thoroughly considering the arguments presented, dismissed the appeal due to its lack of merit. Additionally, the court ordered Chief Ikie to pay a sum of N3 million each as costs to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Rt. Hon. Oborevwori.
Chief Ikie, a gubernatorial aspirant of the PDP, had initially filed the lawsuit in October 2022, accusing Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori and the PDP of submitting false documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to qualify for the 2019 House of Assembly election in Delta State. Chief Ikie also contended that the alleged forged documents rendered Rt. Hon. Oborevwori ineligible to contest the 2023 gubernatorial election.
In response to the forgery allegations, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori and the PDP raised objections, asserting that the lawsuit was statute-barred. They argued that documents submitted to INEC in 2018 for the 2019 general election could not serve as grounds for disqualifying a candidate in 2023.
The trial court upheld the objections raised by the defendants, emphasizing Chief Ikie’s failure to substantiate the forgery allegations convincingly.
Undeterred, Chief Ikie appealed the trial court’s judgment, but the Court of Appeal in Abuja, through Justice Peter Olabisi Ige, affirmed the trial court’s decision in a unanimous judgment. The Court of Appeal deemed Chief Ikie’s case as moribund and incapable of revival under any circumstances, while chastising him for accusing the respondent of document falsification without summoning the institutions responsible for issuing the certificates to Rt. Hon. Oborevwori.
With the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the appeal, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori can continue his pursuit of the 2023 gubernatorial election without any disqualification concerns. The ruling serves as a precedent, highlighting the importance of providing substantial evidence to support allegations in legal proceedings of this nature.
