Supreme Court upholds Uduaghan’s election

THE Democratic Peoples Party’s governorship candidate in Delta State in the 2011 election, Chief Great Ogboru ,yesterday finally lost the battle to unseat Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan. The Supreme Court dismissed his application seeking to compel the court to set aside its earlier judgment with which it upheld Uduaghan’s election of the PDP.

The governor hailed the verdict as a vindication of the supreme mandate given him by the people of the state. Justice Suleiman Galadima,in yesterday’s ruling, held that the application was an abuse of court process. The judgment was prepared by Justice Clara Bata-Ogunbiyi. The court ordered Ogboru to pay Uduaghan N50,000 as cost for filing the application which the court described as frivolous. The apex court observed that a similar application was filed and withdrawn by Ogboru’s first lawyer, Sebastine Hon (SAN). It held that Ogboru’s claim that Hon withdrew the application without his authority was not substantiated. The court upheld the argument by Uduaghan’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun (SAN) that a lawyer has unfettered authority to conduct his client’s case. Olanipekun had argued that when briefed, a lawyer has full control of his client’s case and that such a lawyer could compromise the case or could agree to a judgment, and that the only choice the client has was to withdraw the instruction given to the lawyer. The apex court also held that there must be an end to litigation. The court held that Ogboru did not prove that Hon acted without authority when he withdrew the initial application to set aside the judgment. It held that since Hon had withdrawn the application, Ogboru was bound by the action of his lawyer ,pointing out that Ogboru’s decision to file a similar application was an abuse of the process of court. It did not go into the merit of the application. The court frowned at the allegation by Ogboru’s new lawyer, Dickson Osuala that Hon compromised in the manner he withdrew the application. The court held that it was unfair to allege that Hon compromised himself and warned lawyers not to allow their clients to use them to disparage the legal profession and legal practitioners. Ogboru had returned to the apex court with a fresh application asking that the judgment (with which it upheld Uduaghan’s election) be set aside and a new panel be constituted to hear his appeal. The application was initially filed for him by Hon, who later withdrew it and the court had it struck out. Dissatisfied with Hon’s decision, Ogboru hired Osuala, who a similar application and alleged that Hon was not authorised to withdraw the earlier application. Reacting to the court ruling,Governor Uduaghan said it is a vindication of the supreme mandate given him by the people of the state. “I owe this victory to God and Deltans. I only pray that our opponents would by now have realised that we enjoy a supreme mandate as expressed in the will of the people. One with God has the Majority”, he said. “There is time for politics and there is time for election petitions, but it seems there are those determined to use court cases no matter how frivilous to distract and divide Deltans, but God has been with us because he ordained this government. “Delta belongs to all of us. The time to fight is over. Now is the time for Chief Ogboru and his followers to join hands with my administration to develop the state.”