The lawmaker representing Cross River North Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, has kicked off the defence of his mandate.
Represented by his legal team headed by Mba Ukweni, SAN, Senator Jarigbe has so far presented 1,531 exhibits before the tribunal. Thet include authentic Certified True Copies (CTC) of IREV and hard copies of forms EC8A1 Result sheets.
The case, which has suit number EPT/CR/SEN/02/2023, was instituted by the immediate past Governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade, following his defeat in the 2023 National Assembly Election in the state.
Addressing journalists, Ukweni said that over 500 constituents from the senatorial district were lined up to testify, but the Election Petition Tribunal in the state pruned the figure to 33.
He said, “The Tribunal asked us to call a maximum of 33 witnesses, but there were many people who were very anxious to testify.
“It took us some time yesterday to persuade the tribunal that many of the constituents are not on the list and they said they want to come and defend their mandate.
“For those who are already on the list, we have over 500 people ready to testify, but the tribunal has limited the list to 33”, he said.
Ukweni debunked the claim by the petitioners that the result was rigged, saying no document was tendered to that effect.
Senator Jarigbe won the Cross River North Senatorial election on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, after pulling 76,145 votes to defeat Ayade who scored 56, 595 votes.
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.
