By Moses Okorie
365Daily – The legal tussle between Dr. Stephen Odey and Jerigbe Agom Jerigbe has taken another twist as the Court of Appeal in Calabar has once again declared Jerigbe the duly elected Senator for Cross River North.
The appellant court declared Jerigbe the lawful candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the December 5, 2020 bye-election for the seat.
The three-man Appeal Tribunal headed by Hon. Justice Chioma I. Nwosu also invalidated the certificate of return earlier issued to Odey by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and directed it should be withdrawn.
The latest judgement has validated the earlier judgement of the Supreme Court delivered in February, which also ruled in favour of Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, but the leadership of the Senate decided to turn down the court apex court judgement and preferred to recognize Stephen Odey.
The Supreme Court judgement gave a split decision of four to three, dismissing the appeal filed by Senator Stephen Odey challenging the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which declared Jarigbe as the valid candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The majority judgment upheld the preliminary objections raised by Jarigbe challenging the mode of service of the notice of appeal.
Recall that the PDP won the December 5, 2020, rescheduled elections held in the state.
Even before the supreme court judgement of February 2021, the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal had earlier declared Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe as the duly nominated candidate of the PDP and the rightful winner of the election against Dr. Odey, who was declared by INEC and sworn in by the Senate.
The Court also ordered the INEC to immediately issue a Certificate of Return to Hon Jarigbe and withdraw the one earlier issued to Dr Stephen Odey.