The Supreme Court, Thursday, affirmed the election of Umo Eno as the governor of Akwa Ibom State, in the March 18, governorship election in the state
The seven-man panel of the Apex court, lead by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, dismissed the petition following the withdrawal of three separate appeals brought before it by the petitioners alleging certificate forgery.
They failed to convinced the panel that Emo Eno Bassey and Bassey Eno Emo were not the same and as such that the governor allegedly forged his Secondary School Certificate.
Consequently, the lead counsel to the respective parties withdrew their separate appeals as the apex court panel of Justices hinted that they have no merit.
The Petitioners in the matter are All Progressive Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Akanimo Udofia, Young Progressive Party(YPP) and its gubernatorial candidate, Akpan Albert Bassey as well as that of New Nigeria People’s Party(NNPP)and its governorship candidate, John James Akpan Udoedehe.
Their arguments especially forgery allegations did not go down well with the Apex Court Justices who queried the lawyers on whether the West African Examinations Council WAEC gave evidence to establish the criminal allegations.
Upon admission that WAEC did not testify in the matter, the lawyers opted and separately withdrew the appeal.
This prompted Justice Abba-Aji to dismiss them following no objections from lawyers to the various respondents.
The Court did not award cost against any of the lawyers to the appellants having voluntarily withdrew their cases on ground of want of merit.
The Court of Appeal in Lagos had in November last year affirmed the election of Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State in the governorship election held on March 18, 2023.
The appellate court in its judgment dismissed three separate appeals, filed against the governor’s election.
While affirming the September 28, 2023 judgments of the election petition tribunal, the three-member panel of Justices headed by Festus Obande dismissed the appeal brought by the governorship candidate of the Young Progressives Party, Bassey Akpan, and his party against the Independent National Electoral Commission, Eno, and the Peoples Democratic Party.
Justice Obande also granted judgments in favour of the governor against the appeals of the governorship candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party, John Udoedehe, as well as Akanimo Udofia, of the All Progressives Congress.
The appellate court declared in the unanimous judgments that all three appeals lacked merit.
