Supreme court affirms Bassey Otu as Cross River governor

The supreme court has affirmed the election of Bassey Otu as the governor of Cross River state.

The apex court on Friday dismissed the appeal filed by Sandy Onor, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Helen Ogunwumiju, who read the lead judgment, held that the “appeal is without merit, a waste of judicial time and resources”.

BACKGROUND

In March 2023, Otu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was announced as the winner of the Cross River governorship election after he scored 258,619 votes.

Onor who came second behind Otu scored    179,636 votes.

Dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, Onor approached the tribunal with a three-point petition.

Onor had argued that Peter Odey, Otu’s deputy, was still a member of the PDP when he was nominated by the APC.

He added that Otu did not possess the prerequisite qualifications to contest the election.

In September 2023, the tribunal dismissed the petition filed by Onor while the court of appeal in November affirmed the election of Otu as the governor of Cross River.