Okowa in final victory as Ogboru, Emerhor crash out

·                  Supreme Court uphold’s governor’s election

The duo of Chief Great Ogboru, of the Labour Party (LP) and his All Progressives Congress (APC), Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, finally crashed out of the Delta Governorship reckoning Tuesday, when the Supreme Court upheld the election of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa in the April 11, 2016 election.

Victorious Governor Okowa

The seven-man panel of the Supreme Court Justices in a unanimous decision, dismissed the appeal against the election of Governor Okowa describing the appeals by Emerhor and Ogboru as an abuse of court process, even as they averred that their cases lacked merit as the duo have not proved their petitions of over voting and substantial non-compliance with the electoral rules beyond reasonable doubt.

It will be recalled that both the elections petitions tribunal which sat in Asaba and the Court of Appeal, which was supposed to sit in Benin, but had been moved to Abuja for alleged security reasons, had earlier in their respective decisions affirmed Okowa’s election as the duly elected governor of Delta State, as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, after the April 11, 2015 Delta State governorship election..

With the apex court’s ruling Governor Okowa is finally relieved of all election litigations he was expected to face as the duly elected Governor of Delta State.

However, the Supreme Court Justices said they would give the reasons for the judgment on February 15, 2016.

It is worthy of note however, that with Governor Okowa’s latest victory at the Supreme Court, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, having already secured Cross Rivers State under Governor Ben Ayade, has now consolidated its grip on the South South region of Nigeria, following the dramatic victories of Governor Nyesom Ezewon Wike of Rivers State at the Supreme Court and Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state, after a hard fought governorship election, recently.