The Federal High Court sitting in Calabar has declared Dr. Stephen Odey as the rightful candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for Cross River North Senatorial by-election scheduled for tomorrow.
The presiding judge, Justice S.A. Amobeda, who gave the judgement in a suit filed by Dr. Stephen Odey against INEC and Hon Jarigbe Agom, No FHC/CA/CS/87/20, yesterday, restrained INEC and any other parties in the case from doing anything that would adversely affect the candidature of Dr. Stephen Odey.
The court also dismissed the case of Rt Hon Jarigbe Agom, member representing Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, for lack of merit and evidence, saying that “the report of the minority team declaring Jarigbe as winner is, hereby, rejected on ground that it does not meet the required criteria stipulated by the guidelines of Party Primaries election.”
The Court laid down the long litigation to rest by upholding the name of Dr. Stephen Odey as the authentic candidate of the PDP in tomorrow’s elections with a mandate for the first respondent, INEC, to recognise and publish the name of Stephen Odey as the authentic candidate of the PDP.
The court also set aside the Exparte Order of the Port Harcourt Federal High Court granted on 11/9/2020.
Meanwhile, Agom challenged the victory of Odey and got an Experte order stopping INEC from publishing Dr Odey’s as the PDP candidate. But after the expiration of the order, Odey obtained an experte order compelling INEC to publish his name as the party’s candidate pending the determination of the suit.
The both cases were determined yesterday, and Odey’s primary victory was upheld as candidate of the PDP.