Delta North: Supreme Court upholds Sen. Nwaoboshi’s election

By Andrew Orolua, Abuja

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the election of Senator Peter Nwaoboshi of Delta North Senatorial District as the winner of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary held on October 2, 2018 and duly elected on February 23, 2019.

The apex court struck out the two appeals filed by Ned Nwoko, who had challenged Sen. Nwaoboshi’s election for lack of jurisdiction.

In a unanimous decision on Tuesday, the apex court said that the originating summons filed by Ned Nwoko on December 11, 2018 at the Federal High, Abuja, was incompetent and that the trial judge was therefore, in error as the incompetent process had robbed the court off its jurisdiction.

Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Inyang Okoro stated that “the originating summons is incompetent and judgment of the trial court is without jurisdiction. This court has raised the issue of jurisdiction so moto (on its own) in the light of Section 295 (8) of the constitution as to when the cause of action arose.

“The appellant and indeed, all parties agreed that the PDP declared Sen. Nwaoboshi winner of the primary election on October 2, 2018 and that the declaration set off the action taken by the appellant. The appellant (Nwoko) was aggrieved on October 2, 2018 when the result was announced.”

He said that the argument by Nwoko’s lawyer that the cause of action was a continuous injury did not fly at all in the light of the fourth alteration to the constitution which provides that pre-election matters should be filed within 14 days when the action, event and decision took place, in the instant case the appellant went to court on December 11, 2018.

The trial court judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed granted the relief sought and declared Ned Nwoko as senator -elect for Delta North. But, aggrieved by the court’s decision, Sen. Nwaoboshi lodged an appeal at the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal in a unanimous judgment set aside the judgment of federal high court delivered by Justice Ahmed Mohammed and struck out Nwoko’s suit for being statute barred at the time it was filed at the lower court.

Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Mohammed Baba Idris held that “by the time the matter was instituted the action was statute barred having commenced outside the 14 days allowed by the law.”