Delta Guber: Recognise me as PDP candidate, David Edevbie writes INEC
Ahead of the forthcoming governorship election in Delta State, Olorogun David Edevbie, who was recently declared as the authentic candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state, has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to obey the court judgment and recognise his candidacy.
Edevbie, in a letter to INEC through his lawyer, Mr. Eko Eko, SAN, maintained that the electoral body, “is bound by the clear and unambiguous provisions of Section 287 (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended),” to give full force and effect to the judgment the court delivered in his favour on July 7.
“Mr. Chairman, the compliance with the judgment/enrolled orders of the Federal high Court is a mandatory constitutional and statutory obligation on the commission.
“We, therefore, reiterate our clients request that his name, David Edevbie, should be accepted as the lawful candidate of the PDP as directed in the orders of the court.
“We have attached our client’s Nomination Form, Affidavit in support of personal particulars and other credentials as Annexures A, B, and C to this letter for your ease of reference.
“INEC has been an exemplary office under your guidance and has discharged its statutory obligations fearlessly with absolute regard to the rule of law, as such, we trust that your good office would direct the relevant department of the commission to comply with the judgment of the court without further delays.
“While anticipating a prompt action, please remain assured of our highest professional regards thank you,” the letter, which INEC received through its National Legal Adviser, added.
Edevbie had earlier served the commission with a copy of the enrolled order of the judgment, which was signed by Registrar of the court, Blessing Chibuzor-Ugwu and endorsed by Justice Taiwo Taiwo.
It will be recalled that Justice Taiwo had in his judgment, disqualified the Speaker of Delta State House of Assembly, Sherrif Oborevwori, as candidate of the PDP for the governorship election.
The court, directed both PDP and INEC to replace Mr. Oborevwori’s name with that of the plaintiff, Edevbie, who scored the second highest votes in the party’s governorship primary.
Oborevwori was accused of supplying false information and submitting forged certificates in order to take part and emerge as the winner of the PDP governorship primary in the state.
He was alleged to have used the names Oborevwori Sheriff and Francis Orohwedor interchangeably in the certificates he submitted to INEC in aid of his qualification.
Edevbie had in his suit, maintained that the Defendant, Oborevwori, was not validly nominated by his party.
In his judgment, Justice Taiwo held that the suit was meritorious and accordingly granted the reliefs against Oborevwori.
The court held that evidence before it confirmed that the defendant supplied false and forged documents to the INEC in aid of his qualification for the governorship election.
It directed INEC to recognize the Plaintiff as candidate of the PDP for the governorship election.
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