The Court of Appeal seating in Abuja on Thursday upturned the April 3, 2019 judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja which sacked Senator Peter Nwaoboshi as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Delta North Senatorial seat.
Justice Mohammed Idris, in the lead judgment delivered on Thursday, held that the suit by Nwoko was statute barred and that Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja ought not to have heard the case and given judgment.
In a unanimous judgement, the three-man panel of the Court of Appeal held that the Federal High Court had no jurisdiction to have heard the case filed by Ned Nwoko.
Justice Mohammed had, in the April 3, 2019 judgment, sacked Nwaoboshi as the PDP candidate for the last election in Delta North Senatorial district and among others, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept Nwoko as the party’s candidate.
In line with the High Court, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on May 11, 2019, withdrew the Certificate of Return it issued to Nwaoboshi and handed it iver to Nwoko as Senator-elect.
INEC now has to withdraw the certificate now and hand it back to Nwaoboshi, who is the chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), before the nauguration of the 9th National Assembly next month.
•Source: Newspeak
