September 08, (THEWILL) – The Federal High Court in Calabar has fixed October 24, 2022, to adjudicate on the disputed Cross River APC gubernatorial ticket.
The court presided over by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, arrived at the decision, following a four-hour hearing on the dispute.
Following the lengthy hearing, Justice Ojukwu asked parties to file their processes and serve each party within 14 days before the judgment day.
The case with Suit Number FHC/CA/CS/95/2022, is between former senator representing Cross River Central in the National Assembly, John Owan Enoh, as plaintiff and the APC, INEC, and Senator Prince Bassey Otu as defendants.
Speaking after the hearing, Counsel to the Plaintiff, Awa Kalu SAN, said the proceedings arose through originating summons and it’s a simple and straightforward procedure.
He also said he asked for a subpoena, but later withdrew it because they don’t want to lose sight of their complaint.
“From our point of view, the hearing has been concluded because the proceedings were started by originating summons and it’s a simple and straightforward procedure.
“We asked for a subpoena, which we withdrew and it’s our decision to withdraw it.
“The time for this kind of litigation is limited and if you start pursuing it, you lose sight of the main complaint, so in order to save the complaint, we took it away”, he said.
On his part, counsel for Prince Otu, Mike Ozehome, SAN, said they had a good outing and we’re able to prove at least three points that the third defendant is over qualified to stand for the election.
“We were able to demonstrate and show that the third defendant (Bassey Otu), is not only qualified but overqualified to run for the governorship position.
“We also demonstrated that Section 318 of the constitution of Nigeria only required reading up to secondary school, even primary 6 certificate is enough, that is what the Supreme Court said in Atiku Abubakar VS INEC.
“In this case, Bassey Otu not only has a primary /secondary school certificate, but he also has a degree in Sociology from the University of Calabar.
“The second point is that Senator Onoh had already withdrawn from the race in his letter dated 25th of May, 2022, so he cannot reprobate and approbate at the same time.
“We also raised the jurisdictional issue because they filed the case on the 8thv of June 2022, but INEC officially uploaded the result on 27th July 2022, so they were actually counting their chicks before they were hatched”, he said.
About the Author
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
