Delta Governorship Election: S’Court Dismisses Ogboru’s Application

The Supreme Court has again dismissed an application by the Democratic People's Party's  candidate in the last governorship election in Delta State, Chief Great Ogboru, who is seeking to compel the court to set aside its earlier judgment which upheld the election of Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan of the Peoples Democratic Party.

In a judgment written by Justice Clara Ogunbiyi but read by Justice Suleiman Galadima, the court said the application to set aside its earlier judgment was an abuse of court.
It consequently ordered Ogboru to pay Uduaghan N50,000 as cost for filing the "frivolous" application.

The court noted that a similar application was filed and withdrawn by Ogboru's first counsel, Mr Sebastine Hon, SAN.
It further held that the allegation that Hon withdrew the application without the authority of Ogboru was not substantiated.

Justice Ogunbiyi upheld the arguments of Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, to the effect that a counsel had unfettered authority to conduct his client's case.

Olanipekun who represented Uduaghan had argued that when briefed, a lawyer had  full control of his client's case. He could  compromise the case, he could agree to a judgment and that the only choice the client had was to withdraw the instruction given to the lawyer.

She further held that there must be an end to litigation.
The Supreme Court adopted this reasoning and held that Ogboru did not prove that Hon acted without authority when he withdrew the initial application to set aside the judgment. The court held that Hon had withdrawn the application and the plaintiff was bound by the withdrawal and that to file a similar application was an abuse of the process of court.

In the circumstance, the court did not go into the merit of the application.
Justice Ogunbiyi also frowned at the allegation by Ogboru's later lawyer, Dr Dickson Osuala, that Hon compromised himself in the manner in which he withdrew the application.

She held  that it was unfair to allege that Hon compromised  himself.
She warned lawyers not to allow their clients to use them to disparage the legal profession and legal practitioners.
After the Supreme Court upheld the election of Uduaghan, Ogboru returned to the apex court with a fresh application asking that the judgment be set aside and a new panel be constituted to hear his appeal.

The application was filed by Hon who later orally applied to withdraw the application. Consequent upon the withdrawal, the court struck out the application.
Shortly thereafter, Ogboru hired a new lawyer, Osuala who filed a fresh application alleging that Hon was not authorised to withdraw the application.

Meanwhile, Delta leaders on Friday congratulated Uduaghan for his victory at the Supreme Court. They also praised the justices of the Supreme Court for "satisfying the electorate by dismissing the request of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) governorship candidate".

In a statement issued in Asaba by the director of communications of the People’s Movement, Mrs. Ibifuro Tatua, the leaders lauded the judiciary for not yielding to what it called "calculated lies about elections in the state", describing the past three governorship elections  as the most transparent ever seen in the history of the state.

“Contrary to impressions created by some enemies of the state, Uduaghan has no problem if he decides to seek election into the senate come 2015.