Court of Appeal dismisses Ayade, Igbinedion suits, upholds Jarigbe, Idahosa’s victory
Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has upheld the election of Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe of the Peoples Democratic Party as the winner of the Cross River North Senatorial District election of February 25, 2023.
Delivering judgement, Saturday, the court also dismissed the appeal filed by former State Governor, Ben Ayade of the All Progressives Congress (APC) challenging Jarigbe’s victory, which had earlier been affirmed by the Cross River State National Election Petition Tribunal.
Furthermore, the court ordered Ben Ayade to pay N500,000 in favor of the incumbent senator.
In February, Ayade lost the election to the current senator, Jarigbe.
The former governor, who served in the Senate from 2011 to 2015, garnered 56,595 votes compared to Jarigbe of the Peoples Democratic Party, who secured 76,145 votes.
Previously, in September, the Cross River State Tribunal in Calabar had declared Jarigbe as the victor of the senatorial district elections held on February 25, and dismissed Ayade’s petition for lack of merit.
During the five-hour verdict, Justice M. A. Sambo, the chairman of the Tribunal, stated that the petitioners (Ayade and APC) failed to substantiate their case and dismissed all their petitions, asserting that no credible evidence was presented to prove that the elections were marred by irregularities.
Jarigbe, a two-time member of the House of Representatives, transitioned to the Senate through a bye-election in September 2021, following the passing of Dr. Rose Okoh.
Meanwhile, in another judgement delivered by the Court of Appeal in Lagos, same day, the appeals filed Hon. (Miss) Omosede Igbinedion of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Epelle Asemota Bridgitte Osayuki of the Labour Party (LP) were challenging the election of Rt. Hon. Dennis Idahosa of the All progressives Congress (APC) in the Ovia Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives were dismissed.
The court dismissed the appeals for lack of merit and upheld the election victory of Hon. Idahosa.
Earlier, Friday, the Court of appeal sitting in Lagos vacated the order by the Enugu National Assembly Election Tribunal sacking Labour Party’s candidate, Professor Sunday Nnamchi as the member representing Enugu East/Isi-Uzo Federal Constituency of Enugu State.
The Enugu State National Assembly and State House of Assembly tribunal had on September 8th, 2023, nullified Prof. Nnamchi’s election and declared Prince Cornelius Nnaji (Ike Nike) of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP winner of the February Poll.
The three-man panel led by A. M. Abubakar had agreed with the petitioner that the candidate of the Labour Party was not qualified to contest the election as he never resigned from the university before seeking for the new position as required by the new electoral act.
However, in a ruling on Friday, the Court of Appeal set aside the ruling of the tribunal and held that the appeal of the Labour Party candidate has merit.
