Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has upheld the declaration of Jarigbe Agom as the validly elected standard bearer of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, for the Cross River North senatorial bye election held on Saturday, December 5, 2020.
In a unanimous judgment on Thursday, the appellate court dismissed the appeal by John Alaga, describing it as frivolous, vexatious and abuse of court process.
Appeal Court BuildingIn a lead judgement, Justice Peter Ige held that having not participated in the primary election of the party, the appellant, Alaga lacked the locus standi to institute the suit.
The court also held that the appellant did not prove allegations of forgery which is criminal in nature and needed to be proved beyond reasonable doubt.
Accordingly, the court dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit and award a cost of N250, 000 against the appellant in favour of the 1st respondent and N100,000 in favour of the 2nd defendant.
Recall that Justice Binta Mohammed of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had in her judgment declared Jarigbe as the authentic candidate of the party for the senatorial bye election.
Dissatisfied, his challenger, John Alaga approached the Court of Appeal to set aside the judgment of the trial court.
