Court of Appeal upholds Jarigbe’s election as senator for Cross River North

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed an application seeking to review its judgment which returned Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe as the duly elected senator for the Cross River North Senatorial seat.

A five-member panel of justices presided by the president of the court, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, on Saturday, held that the appellate court lacked jurisdiction to set aside its own decision.

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The panel further held that where there are no statutory rules providing for such review, the application by the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Joe Agi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate, Steven Agi Odey constitutes an abuse of court process.

The Court of Appeal in Calabar had on July 30 nullified the certificate of return given to Odey in the December 5, 2020 by-election to fill the vacant seat over the death of Senator Rose Oko.

The three-member panel presided by Justice Chioma Nwosu declared Jarigbe, also of the PDP, the duly elected candidate and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue him a fresh certificate of return.