By Joseph ETTA in Calabar
There was legal crossfire yesterday at the Court of Appeal, Calabar, Cross River State in the election petition filed by the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the 2019 governorship election in Akwa Ibom State, Obong Nsima Ekere, against the victory of Governor Udom Emmanuel, under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
As the respective parties adopted their briefs, the court reserved judgement on the appeal.
The date for the judgement, according to the court, will be communicated soon.
Meanwhile, J. S. Okutepa (SAN), Counsel to Obong Ekere, prayed the court to nullify the 2019 governorship election in Akwa Ibom State, saying “Substantial non-compliance affected the outcome of the election.”
He said the Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Uyo “engaged in technical justice without engaging in substance and merit of the case despite an avalanche of merit before it.”
Okutepa decried that the tribunal had granted leave to inspect electoral materials, later rejected the inspection report during judgement. According to him, Section 151 of the Evidence Act permits admissibility of such document.
He further argued that the Tribunal committed an error by allowing Respondents’ witnesses to testify without a Witness Statement on Oath, saying: “It was a strange procedure.”
Reacting to the Preliminary Objection filed by the PDP, Okutepa called for it to be struck out, describing it as “most misconceived and not properly raised as contained in order 10 of the Rules of the Appeal Court.”
He also faulted the Preliminary Objection on grounds that it was being typed using 10 to 11 fonts size, which falls short of the 12 fonts size standard of the court.
