Cross River: Tribunal admits PDP guber candidate’s documents against Gov Otu

By Musa Baba Adamu

The chairman of the Election Petition Tribunal in Cross River State, Justice Oken Inneh, has admitted the documents tendered by Jonah Yusuf (SAN), counsel to Prof Sandy Onor, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the last election.
Professor Onor is challenging the victory of Gov Bassey Otu of the All progressives Alliance (APC) who was declared the winner on the APC ticket.
The documents were certified true copies from INEC’s EC8 series and Form EC9, as well as a Federal High Court judgement with suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/976/2021 on the eligibility of the second and third respondents.
Onor’s counsel told the tribunal that he was withdrawing volumes two and three of his petition to narrow his petitions to the qualifications of the second and third respondents, who are Senator Bassey Otu and his deputy, Peter Odey.
The tribunal chairman ruled that the case was strictly on the point of law, which is the qualification of the second and third respondents.
She also ruled that despite the objections by the respondents, the documents tendered by Prof Onor have been admitted by the court, and parties are to address them in their final written addresses.
She insisted that the tribunal would not entertain any form of delay.
Earlier, counsel to Governor Otu and Peter Odey, his deputy, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), opposed the admissibility of the documents, stating that the reasons would be stated in his final address to the court.
Counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), K. Balogun, also objected to the admissibility of the documents and said the reasons would be stated in his final address to the tribunal.