By Emmanuel Uffot
Thursday January 19, will be a memorable day in the annals of Akwa Ibom politics, as it was a day the Appeal Court delivered two landmark judgements affirming Pastor Eno and Mr Akan Udofia as the authentic governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressive Congress ( APC) respectively.
In the case of the PDP candidate in the case of certificate forgery instituted by Akan Okon, a former Commissioner in Akwa Ibom and governorship aspirants of the ruling PDP the three- man panel of justices led by Justice Williams Daudu dismissed the appeal of the appellant Akan Okon for lacking in merit.
Justice Daudu who read the judgement held that all claims by the the plaintiff/ appellant were based on assumptions and speculations.
The court ruled that it was funny that the appellant (Okon) who was not a member of a group by name Movement for the Advancement of Democracy in Nigeria nor a staff of the Independent Electoral Commission ( INEC) still went on to present a document purportedly issued to the group by West African Examination Council (WAEC) as evidence in court.
On arguments by Okon’s counsel that the lower court failed to allow the subpoenaed witnesses of the respondents to testify, the Appeal Court panel said the lower court was right to have accepted the evidences of the subpoenaed witnesses from WAEC and Ministry of Justice without allowing them to testify since they were subpoenaed subpona duces tecum.
The Appeal Court equally upheld the decision of the lower court to ignore the report of the forensic expert brought by the appellant maintaining that it was within the discretion of the court.
Daudu panel of Justices ruled that Okon failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt his case challenging tge eligibility of Pastor Eno as well as allegations of forgery.
However the appellant got a reprieve from the court as it reduced the N15 million cost awarded against him by the lower court to N5 million. It justified this decision on the premise that both the appellant ( Akan Okon) and respondent ( Pastor Umo Eno) were from the same PDP family and could still work together.
It could be recalled that Akan Okon participated in the PDP governorship primary of May 25, 2022 which Umo emerged the candidate after polling 993 votes as against Okon three votes from 1,018 delegates.
Not satisfied with the outcome of the primaries, he instituted a suit against Umo Eno alleging alleging forgery of certificates and voters card among others.
He alleged that the PDP candidate presented two forged WAEC certficates beating 1981 and 1983.
That he also presented a forged voters card and claimed Umo Eno altered his date of birth by presenting three different dates of 24 April 1964, 25 April 1965 and January 1, 1964.
He argued that the PDP screening Committee cleared Umo Eno in error to participate in the May 25, 2022 governorship primary.
He had therefore prayed the Federal High Court in Uyo presided by Justice Agatha Okeke to disqualify the PDP candidate and declare him the authentic flagbearer of the party having come second in the poll with three votes.
But in her ruling, Justice Okeke had dismissed Akan Okon case in November last year for lacking in merit and awarded a cost of N15 million against him in favour of the defendant.
Dissatisfied with the ruling he had approached the Appeal Court which has now upheld the decision of the Federal High Court , thus clearing the coast for the PDP candidate ahead the March 11,2023 governorship election.
As at the time of this report, Akan Okon had not given any indication of going to Supreme Court to contest the verdict even as Umo Eno’s camp and supporters have elected to maintained a low key celebration as the PDP candidate continues his local government areas tour.
In the same vein, the Appeal Court also brought smiles and relief to the supporters of Akan Udofia as the panel equally affirmed him as the governorship candidate of APC in Akwa Ibom and ordered INEC to put his name in the list of governorship candidates.
Justice Daudu who also read the judgement upheld the primary election which produced Aksn Udofia as the authentic flagbearer of the party and set aside the judgement of the lower court.
The panel of justices granted the reliefs sought by the appellant and held that Senator Ita Enang, former Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly matters the plaintiff/ appellant who was also an aspirant had no locus standi to sue.
It also held that the lower court erroneously assumed jurisdiction in a case it had no jurisdiction contrary to Section 97 and 98 if the Sheriff Act and therefore unanimously set aside the lower court judgement and upheld the appeal affirming the candidacy of Udofia.
The genesis of the case emanated I the APC primary which produced Akan Udofia, a business mogul.
Prior to the disputed primary, the party has been fictionalised in the state for a long time. While one faction backed by Senator Godswill Akpabio has Obong Stephen Ntukekpo as state chairman, the other faction has Mr Augustine Ekanem as parallel state chairman.
On the said day of the primary, the division in the party came to play as the primary that produced Akanimo Udofia was slated for Ekpo Obot secretariat of the party while the other faction were to hold theirs at Sheergrace Arena of Nsikak Eduok Avenue.
Amidst this confusion, Akan Udofia was announced as the elected flagbearer of the party, this did not go down well with Senator Enang who argued that no primary took place and approached the Federal High Court in Uyo with the prayer that Akan Udofia was not a member of APC but PDP having participated in the PDP primary of May 25 while that of APC was a day after and wondered when he became member of APC to have qualified him to contest the primary to emerged the candidate. He had therefore prayed the court to recognise him as the authentic governorship candidate of APC in Akwa Ibom.
In her ruling on November 14, 2022, Justice Agatha nullified the governorship primary of APC that produced Udofia and ordered INEC to conduct a fresh primary within two weeks but disqualified Udofia from participating in such primary.
Justice Agatha had ruled that the defendant ( Akan Udofia )was not a member of APC having not participated in all the processes of electing a governorship candidate of the party. She said Udofia did not satisfy the provisions of the Electoral laws which stipulates that he ought to have been a member of the APC atleast 30 days before the nomination and moreover the waiver he allegedly got from APC was not signed by known persons.
But Senator Enang has kicked against the Appeal Court ruling. He says it is unacceptable to him and vowed to challenge it at the apex court. His reasoning being that the court, neither communicated the date of the judgement to him nor his counsel. ” I am appealing the judgement. I am going to the Supreme Court because the judgement is not acceptable to me “, Enang reportedly said shortly after the Appeal Court ruling.
The decision of the court to give the APC candidate the nod to contest the March 11 governorship election notwithstanding the intended appeal by Senator Enang at the Supreme Court according to political pundits is a good development as it is going to further put life into the contest which given some inherent teething problems confronting some candidates and opposition parties seems to put the odds in favour of the PDP candidate ahead of others.
But inside sources in APC and opinion of political watchers is that it is not yet uhuru for APC that was hitherto the major opposition party in the state. The reasoning is that the division in the party is still far from being settled inspite of the peace meeting convened by Senator Akpabio in his Ukana country home late last year. Moreover, because prior to Appeal Court ruling, APC technically had no governorship candidate and as such did not kick start its campaign barely month now to the election. So political watchers are of the view that Akan Udofia and APC will have a high mountain to climb in trying to cover lost ground selling Udofia to the electorates.
