Spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2023 general elections in Delta State, Olorogun (Barr) Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe, has said that the former governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Chief Kenneth Gbagi, has finally been humbled by the recent Supreme Court ruling, wherein his legal adventure against winner of the election and governor of Delta State, Rt Hon Sheriff Francis Oborevwori, crashed like a pack of cards.
He made the assertion on Friday, during a public affairs live radio programme monitored in Asaba, saying that Gbagi knew from the outset that he failed the election woefully, but was desirous of staying in the news for the fun of it, and which promoted him to file frivolous petitions and Appeal that gave birth to all manners of judgements which eventually humbled him to submission at the apex Court on Thursday.
Oghenesivbe, further posited that it got so bad for Gbagi and his SDP party; that he started shopping recklessly for some misleading evidence that were not contained in his earlier prayers, not front loaded, and as such, wanted to fraudulently cajole the Tribunal to do the impossible at a point where all parties have filed their written addresses, by urging the Court to reopen his case and to do some unholy magic in his favour.
He said the Tribunal and other Courts of competent jurisdictions are not, and can never be father Christmas in the arena of unbiased justice dispensation; and that in the instant case, Chief Gbagi was obviously trying to manipulate the course of justice in his favour, even though the facts in issue and evidential proof clearly indicated that he performed abysmally and shamefully at the polls beyond reasonable doubt.
“I remember clearly that immediately our party’s governorship candidate, Rt Hon Sheriff Francis Oborevwori, was declared winner of the election and Governor-Elect of Delta State, as he then was, I called Olorogun (Barr) Kenneth Gbagi, to congratulate my principal, so as to add some kind of value to his fast diminishing public image, occasioned by his negative utterances and poorly packaged electioneering campaigns, but he bluntly refused.
“Gbagi opted for the impossible against my humble and candid advise, and I have been vindicated at last. It is a legal taboo to approach the Tribunal to reopen your case at the point of filling written addresses, so as to accommodate fresh evidence that was neither pleaded nor front loaded within time. Our Courts are not father Christmas, no matter your status in the society.
“Gbagi, being a criminologist and a lawyer does not give him any special right over any other citizen. We are all equal before the law. Your financial and social status cannot override the sacred course of justice. He must take cognisance of these constitutional and legal facts, going forward
“It was crystal clear from the results of the governorship election in Delta State, that our incumbent governor, His Excellency, Rt Hon Sheriff Francis Oborevwori, won gallantly in twenty one local government areas of the state. This is staggering. PDP and the governor worked very hard to achieve landslide victory, it was not cheap at all, as aptly reflected in the various Court judgments.
“Gbagi never won in any local government area in the state. What then gave him the moral and legal justification that the Tribunal or any properly constituted Court in Nigeria, will, for any reason, declare him winner? It’s impossible and unachievable in all ramifications. This is it.
“The Supreme Court rightly stated that Chief Gbagi merely chased shadows, looking for what is not available anywhere, wasted his time and huge financial resources to engage in unprofitable academic exercise that lacked legal merit, and therefore, amounted to waste of precious time of the Courts.
“The judgment obviously humbled Chief Gbagi, and I foresee his return to PDP where he rightly belong as a founding member. I say so, because SDP is neither here nor there in Delta State, and the only party that guarantees Gbagi’s political relevance is the PDP.
“I see Kenneth Gbagi coming to join forces with governor Oborevwori to Advance Delta till year 2031, under the instrumentality of the M.O.R.E Agenda.
“I congratulate our excessive local content governor, Elder Oborevwori, PDP party faithfuls and the good people of Delta State, over the recent Supreme Court Victory.
“The other Appeal cases, including that of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Augustine Ovie Omo-Agege, shall also end in praise and in favour of PDP and H.E. Delta,” Oghenesivbe assured, without prejudice.