Delta State governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the March 18, 2023 polls, Ovie Omo-Agege, was unable to tender documents before election petition sitting in Asaba at the resumed hearing of his petition against the election of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The former Deputy President of the Senate had at the last adjourned date tendered some documents which were admitted in evidence by the three-man tribunal headed by Justice C.H Ahuchaogu.
But at the resumed hearing on Monday, counsel to the petitioners, Bello Abu who held the brief of A.K. Osawota, made futile attempts to tender more documents.
The volume of documents he sought to tender in line with the schedule, were replete with errors, forcing the tribunal to briefly adjourn for 40 minutes to enable the petitioners’ regularise.
Though, the initial break lasted over an hour, counsel to the petitioners was still unable to tidy up, as he asked for further adjournment.
“We are unable to pull through our regularisation efforts, we are therefore asking for an adjournment,” he said.
Counsel to the third respondent which is the PDP, Ekeme Ohwovoriole (SAN), frowned at what he described as indolence on the part of his opponents.
Ohwovoriole said it was about the fourth time the petitioners were standing the tribunal down since commencement of the process to tender documents.
Adjourning the petition to July 11, 2023, for definite hearing, Justice Ahuchaogu held that if the petitioners are unable to conclude the regularisation of the documents to be tendered, the tribunal would invoke the relevant paragraphs against them.
In the said petition, Omo-Agege is challenging the return of Oborevwori as winner of the governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
While INEC is the first respondent, the governor and the PDP are the second and third respondents respectively.
