Following months of supremacy battle over the leadership of Cross River State Chapter of the Peoples Democatic Party (PDP) and the Senatorial bye election of Cross River North Senatorial District between Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike of Rivers State and his Cross River State counterpart, Prof. Ben Ayade, the Supreme Court of Nigeria has struck out Dr Stephen Odey’s appeal and affirmed Rt. Hon. Jarigbe Agom as the Senator representing Cross River Northern Senatorial District.
The Apex Court on Thursday, February 25, 2021, upheld Agom’s preliminary objection on defective service and affirmed him the elective Senator for Cross River North Senatorial by-election that held on December 5, 2020.
It was alleged that Governor Wike was backing Hon. Jarigbe Agom, who is the member representing Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency in the National Assembly.
Recall that the battle of who becomes the authentic candidate of the PDP for the 2020 Cross River North by-election started on September 5, 2020, when both Jarigbe and Odey were announced as candidates of the party primaries that held in Ogoja local government area.
Ever since then, both parties have been moving from one court to the other until the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) issued two separate certificates of return.
Meanwhile, on December 21, 2020, the certificate of return was later issued to Jarigbe Agom by Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman in Abuja, after he was reappointed for the second time by president Muhammadu Buhari.
Details later.
