The Calabar division of the Court of Appeal Friday asked the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to withdraw the Certificate of Return given to Senator Stephen Adi Odey and return a member of House of Representatives, Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, as elected Senator representing Cross River Northern Senatorial District.
The three-man tribunal panel led by Justice Chioma Iheme-Nwosu in a unanimous judgment dismissed an earlier ruling of the lower tribunal which declared Senator Odey as the winner of the election.
Speaking on the judgment, lawyers to Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe; Achu Takim and Theophilus Etorti said the judgment of the appellate court brings to an end the prolonged legal tussle between Odey and Jarigbe, saying the judgment is in the interest of the people of Cross River Northern Senatorial District.
Also speaking, some members of the People Democratic Party, PDP, Venatius Ikem, and Odey Brown said the party has been vindicated and the final court has made pronouncements on the matter.
The Court in a Suit No CAL/C/NAEA/SEN/167/2021 pronounced that the lower tribunal erred by making a resolution in an area it had no jurisdiction, maintaining that it was an affront for the tribunal to jettison the decision of the Supreme Court on the authentic candidate of the PDP.
Efforts to speak with Senator Odey on the judgement was not successful as repeated calls to his lawyer was not going through.