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By Ndifon, Joseph
The Court of Appeal, sitting in Lagos, has reserved judgement in the appeal filed by Prof. Sandy Ojang Onor and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) against the judgement of the Governorship Panel of the Cross River State Elections Petition, which affirmed the victory of Sen. Bassey Edet Otu in the Governorship Elections.
A three-man panel of the court, led by Hon. Justice (Name withheld), announced this decision on Saturday, November 4th, 2023, after counsels for the parties adopted their brief of arguments and made their final submissions.
Unsatisfied with the judgement of the tribunal, Sen. Onor had approached the higher court, citing 34 grounds of appeal in an effort to set aside the judgement of the lower court.
Sen. Onor and the PDP, represented by their lawyers led by Dr. J. Y. Musa, SAN, urged the court to uphold the appeal and set aside the judgement of the Governorship Elections Petition Tribunal, which had previously dismissed their petition.
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Sen. Bassey Otu, and the All Progressives Congress (APC), through their respective lawyers, have requested the court to dismiss the appeal for lacking merit.
Sen. Onor, who secured the second position in the election, argued in his 34 grounds of appeal that the tribunal had made legal errors and reached an incorrect conclusion when it dismissed his petition.
The court also re-affirmed the victories of Sen. Jarigbe Agom and Barr Godwin Offiono as winners of the Cross River North Senatorial and Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency Elections respectively.
