The Court of Appeal has upheld the victories of three Delta senators and a member of the House of Representatives.
The senators are Prince Ned Nwoko, Joel-Onowakpo Thomas, and Ede Dafinone, respectively of Delta North, South, and Central senatorial districts, and Francis Waive of Udu/Ughelli North/South federal constituency.
Delivering the judgement on the winners of the February 25, 2023, Delta National Assembly elections, Justice Olubunmi Oyewole of the Courts of Appeal, Asaba Division, stated that the five issues of appeal filed by Thomas were meritorious, declaring the earlier judgement given by the tribunal set aside.
The court subsequently awarded N250,000 against Michael Diden (aka Ejele) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In a related development, the Court of Appeal, Lagos, affirmed the tribunal judgement, declaring PDP’s Prince Ned Nwoko the legitimate winner of the Delta North senatorial election.
The court sitting in Lagos dismissed the appeals of Peter Nwaoboshi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Ken Kanma of the Labour Party (LP) for lack of merit.
The National Assembly elections petitions tribunal in Asaba, Delta State, had earlier ruled in September that Nwoko overwhelmingly won the February 25 election.
Also, the Court of Appeal in Lagos upheld the election of Senator Dafinone against PDP candidate Chief Igboyota Amori.
Similarly, the court on Wednesday set aside the tribunal judgement that earlier nullified the election of Rev. Francis Waive, the member representing Udu/Ughelli North/South federal constituency, in a suit by PDP candidate Solomon Awhinawhi.
The lower court had ruled that Waive was not qualified to contest the 2023 general elections because the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to publish his educational qualifications, which were submitted to INEC as required by law.
Waive, who is a member of the APC, challenged the tribunal’s verdict, arguing that he submitted all the necessary documents to INEC and that the non-publication of his qualifications on the INEC portal was not his fault and that it’s not a ground known to law for the nullification of an election.
In a unanimous judgement delivered in the case, the appellate court upheld Waive’s appeal and dismissed the cross-appeal filed by his opponent, Solomon Awhinawhi of the PDP.
The court granted all the reliefs sought by Waive and awarded N500,000 each as cost against Awhinawhi, PDP and INEC.
The court held that the non-publication of Waive’s qualifications by INEC was not a ground for disqualification and that there was no evidence to prove that he forged or falsified any document.
The court also affirmed Waive’s victory at the polls, saying that he scored the highest number of valid votes cast in the constituency.