BREAKING: Court of Appeal comfirm Ned Nwoko as winner of Delta North Senatorial seat

The Court of Appeal in Asaba has upheld the sacking of Senator Peter Nwaoboshi as the senator-elect for Delta North Senatorial District.

Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, who read the judgement via Zoom on Wednesday, described Nwaoboshi’s appeal as lacking merit.

The Federal High Court Abuja in April sacked Nwaoboshi as the senator-elect for Delta North Senatorial District.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed gave the order while delivering judgment in a suit filed by Senator Ned Nwoko challenging the election of Nwaoboshi as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the October 2, 2018, primaries of the party held in Delta.

The court held that Nwaoboshi was not the duly elected candidate of the PDP in the primary election.

Justice Mohammed ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish the name of Nwoko as the PDP candidate, having established before the court that he secured the highest number of votes in the primary election.

Also in September, the National and State Houses of Assembly Election Tribunal sitting in Asaba, the Delta State capital, rejected a petition from the All Progressives Congress (APC) against Nwoko, filed by Senator Nwaoboshi.

The tribunal awarded a cost of N500,000 against the petitioner.

Nwaoboshi appealed the tribunal’s judgement with INEC and Nwoko listed as the respondents.

Reading the ruling of the Appeal Court on Wednesday, Justice Oyewole said, “The Appeal is against the decision of the National Assembly Election Tribunal, Asaba, where it dismissed the Appellant’s petition against the return of the second Respondent for the Delta North Senatorial District in the National Assembly.

“The court considered all the arguments canvassed by the parties on the issues and came to the conclusion that the appeal is devoid of merit and is accordingly dismissed.’

“Although in this regard, the court did not award any cost and appreciated the industry put in by various counsel in respect of the various briefs. Appeal dismissed.”