Court rules in favour of Otu as APC guber candidate in Cross River

A Federal High Court in Calabar on Monday affirmed Prince Bassey Otu as the legitimate governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress(APC) in Cross River State.

The affirmation was contained in a judgement delivered by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu.

Senator Owan Enoh had filed a lawsuit against Otu, seeking to disqualify him as the gubernatorial candidate of the APC in the state.

Delivering the judgement, Justice Ojukwu said: “The plaintiff failed to provide what constituted or constitutes the false information provided by the third defendant who is the candidate of his party in his affidavit or any document submitted as contained in the constitutional requirement.

“The allegation of forgery was not established in any manner. None of the documents or certificates submitted by the third defendant gave evidence of forgery. I have carefully perused the averments and find no evidence of false information.

Read also:2023: APC disqualifies Gov Ayade’s consensus guber aspirant, Otu, over criminal allegation

“For the court to rule otherwise, there must be cogent and palpable evidence to the contrary, but in this case there is none that is presented before this court.

“In the final analysis, I find that the plaintiff has failed to substantiate his claims to be deserving of a favourable judgment of this court in terms of reliefs sought.

“This honourable court is of the humble but firm opinion that the plaintiffs case lacks merit, so this case fails and is accordingly dismissed.”

Cross River APC chairman Alphonsus Eba, who commented on the verdict, said the judgment was sound and affirmed that the party did the right thing.

He urged all party members in the state to close ranks and look forward to winning in the 2023 general elections.

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