A Federal High Court sitting in Uyo has dismissed the two cases challenging the eligibility of Senator Bassey Albert Akpan, the governorship candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), to contest the up-coming election on March 11, 2023.
Delivering judgement, on February 9, 2023, on the cases which argued that OBA was not eligible since he was sentenced to imprisonment on December 1, 2022, Justice M.A. Oyetenu, sitting in Court 1 of the Federal High Court, declared the matter dismissed.
The governorship candidate of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Mr Sunday Francis Ekanem and that of Zenith Labour Party, Nsikak Hogan Thomas, in separate suits, had asked the court to declare that OBA is not qualified to contest, because his jail sentence has not reached ten years.
In suits number FHC/ ABJ/CS/2304/2022 (FCH/UY/11/2023) and FHC/UY/CS/357/2022, Thomas and Ekanem, respectively, also asked the court, among other things, to direct INEC to delete Senator Akpan’s name and the YPP logo from the ballot.
Incidentally, both cases were filed on December 14, 2022.
However, following a strong counter filed by Senator Akpan’s legal team, the ZLP and PRP governorship candidates beat a retreat by filing for withdrawal, after they realised that their cases lacked merit in law.
Consequently, following their withdrawal and without any opposition from their counsels, the court dismissed the suits, indicating that there is no legal huddle against Senator Albert contesting the governorship election on March 11, 2023.
