NewsCross River Guber: Appeal Court Fines Sandy Onor, PDP N500,000

Cross River Guber: Appeal Court Fines Sandy Onor, PDP N500,000

THEWILL APP ADS 2

February 04, (THEWILL) – The Court of Appeal sitting in Calabar has fined the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its gubernatorial candidate, Professor Sandy Onor, N500,000.

This follows a judgement delivered by the court in a suit seeking to disqualify the deputy governorship candidate of the APC, Peter Odey.

The PDP alleged that Peter Odey, the is still a member of their party despite being a deputy Governorship candidate in the APC and that he has a dual citizenship.

Delivering judgement in the suit which had as Suit No. CA/C/392/2022, Justice Oyebisi Omoleye, in a unanimous decision said the appeal is adjudged a failure as it is not justifiable.

In her words, “The appeal is adjudged a failure and is hereby dismissed accordingly.

“The action of the Appellants is not justiceable and the action filed at the trial Court in Suit No. FHC/CA/CD/142/2022 is hereby struck out for lack of jurisdiction.

“500,000 naira cost is to be paid in favour of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents jointly and severally”, the judge said.

Justice Omoleye maintained that the challenge relates to the internal affairs of another party which the court has no jurisdiction.

She said the court will not dabble into the membership of a political party because it is internal to the party and not open to the court to inquire.

She said the court has no jurisdiction and the trial Court was very clean and it’s standing cannot be faulted.

She added that the two other justices Raphael Agbo and Balkisu Bello participated in the conference leading to the judgement and they all dismissed the appeal.

Reacting to the judgement, counsel to the respondents, Mike Igbanoi who held brief for Mike Ozekhome SAN, said the judgment is a very sound one because it was unanimous and all the issues were resolved in favour of the APC and the Governorship candidate and his Deputy.

He said it is noteworthy that the court made a very sound pronouncement concerning cost and it is very instructive and a message is being sent out and you don’t just bring frivolous appeals to the court.

On his part, counsel to the Appellants First Baba Isa said by law the deputy governorship candidate of the APC should have resigned but didn’t and there is a difference between resigning and defecting.

He said at least the court of appeal agreed with them that they are not challenging the primaries ai the electoral act does not affect them one way or the other.

He added that it is a good pick from the judgment and they will look at it and see how they can proceed from there.

The three issues the court determined in favour of the APC were that of dual citizenship the locus standi of a rival party to challenge the internal affairs of another party and the issue of membership of a political party which the court said is not justiceable.

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THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.

Bassey Aniekan, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.

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