N’Assembly Polls: A’Court Authenticate Owan-Enoh, Ndoma-Egba as C’River APC Candidates

The Court of Appeal sitting in Calabar on Friday declared that
Senator John Owan-Enoh, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, and others were
the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross
River State for the 2019 governorship and National Assembly
elections.

The Appeal Court further declared that the Sir John Ochalla-led
executive committee is the valid state executive committee of the
party in the state.

Delivering judgments in the two cases that bordered on who were
the authentic candidates of the APC as well as the authentic state
executive of the party, the appeal panel declared that Owan-Enoh,
Ndoma-Egba and others, whose names were published by the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), remained the
authentic candidates of the party.

The presiding judge, Justice J. S. Ikyegh, and two others —
Justice T. Abubakar, and Justice U. A. Ogakwu — unanimously ruled
in cases N0: CA/C/62/2019 and CA/C/70/2019 involving Etim John and
others versus John Ochalla and others, that the Federal High Court
sitting in Calabar acted without jurisdiction in its order.

The Appeal Court noted that the lower court cannot grant relief,
and make orders against persons who were not parties before the
court.

The court accordingly set aside the judgment of the Federal High
Court describing same as “being pervasive, and where no relief was
sought”.

The justices said that the orders of the Federal High Court
“were made gratuitous, and without fair hearing and against
established principles of the law”.

The court said in the circumstances, the candidates whose names
were published remained the authentic candidates of the APC in the
state.

In the second case N0: CA/C/70/2019 bordering on the leadership
of the state executive of the party, the Appeal Court judges also
authenticated the Ochalla-led executive over the factional exco of
Etim John, who is supported by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs,
Pastor Usani Uguru Usani.