By Nurudeen Lawal, Legit.Ng
The Election Petitions Tribunal (EPT) sitting in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, has upheld the victory of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Stephen Odey, in the Cross River North Senatorial District by-election. ThisDay reported that the three-man panel of the tribunal delivered its ruling on Friday, June 18.
The panel led by Justice Yusuf Muhammad upheld the preliminary objection raised by Odey’s lawyer that the two grounds of the petition were pre-election matters.
Legit.Ng gathers that the tribunal, therefore, struck out the petition for lack of merit. The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the December 5, 2020 by-election, Joe Agi (SAN), had gone to the election tribunal to challenge the victory of the PDP candidate.
INEC Faulted For Issuing Certificate Of Return To Jarigbe
Meanwhile, the tribunal also held that Jarigbe Agom, who is the second respondent in the petition, was never cleared nor contested the December 5, 2020, PDP primaries, The Nation also reported.
It, therefore, faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the wrongful issuance of a certificate of return to Jarigbe who was an aspirant of the PDP. The tribunal further held that Senator Odey was duly returned as the Senator representing Cross River North.
PDP Issues Quit Notice To Governor Ayade
The National Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus, has issued a quit notice to Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State.
Secondus on Monday, June 14, told Ayade who recently left the PDP for the APC to start packing his load from the Government house. The PDP Chairman made the statement during the official inauguration of the Caretaker Committee and unveiling of the new party-state secretariat (annex) in Calabar.
PDP Says Ayade’s Defection Was A Wrong Political Move
Secondus also said Governor Ayade must be regretting his decision to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC). The PDP chieftain said: “This is a quit notice to Governor Ayade, he should begin to pack his load and we also know that he is regretting joining the APC because more Governor’s are joining the 14 PDP Governors from the ruling APC.’’