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Court of Appeal rejects PDP Petition and upholds Cross River Governor Bassey Otu’s election

Published by Fakinlede Tope John on November 23rd, 2023.

Court of Appeal rejects PDP Petition and upholds Cross River Governor Bassey Otu’s election

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The court dismissed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appeal for lacking in merit.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos State on Wednesday delivered its judgment reaffirming the victory of Senator Bassey Otu as the Governor of Cross River State.

The court dismissed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appeal for lacking in merit.

The Appeal Court agreed with the submission made in the brief of argument filed and argued by Mike Ozekhome, SAN, the lead Counsel for Bassey Otu and Peter Odey and resolved all the 20 issues formulated for determination in the Appellants’ brief by their Counsel, Dr. J.Y. Musa, SAN, in favour of the Respondents and against the Appellants, the PDP and Senator Sandy Ojang Onor.

The court also slammed N1million naira cost against each of the Appellants in favour of each of the four Respondents, Bassey Otu, Peter Odey, INEC and the APC.

The court went ahead and affirmed the earlier judgment of the Cross River State Governorship election tribunal in Petition Number: EPT/CR/GOV/02/2023, instituted by Sen Prof Sandy Ojang Onor and the PDP against Otu and Odey and delivered on 26th September, 2023.

The said tribunal’s judgment had affirmed Prince Bassey Edet Otu and his Deputy, Peter Odey as candidates for and winners of the Governorship Election held in Cross River State on the 18 of March, 2023.

The court in its lead judgement delivered by the presiding Justice, resolved issues 1,2,3,4 and 12 in favour of the Respondents and against the Appellants, holding that the tribunal was right to have declined jurisdiction in determining the membership of a political party of the 3rd Respondent, Odey, as it is a pre-election matter and therefore statute-barred.

The court further agreed with the learned tribunal that allegedly providing false information on Form EC9, particularly Exhibit D52B, is also a pre-election matter.

The court also further agreed with the lower tribunal that aside the action being statute-barred, the Appellants did not prove the alleged conflict in the names of the Secondary School attended by the 2nd Respondent, Prince Bassey Edet Otu, as decided by the Supreme Court in APC V. OBASEKI.

The court finally dismissed the appeal in its entirety for lacking in merit and affirmed Otu as the state governor.