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| L-R Sen. John Owan-Enoh, Prince Bassey Otu |
Asuquo Cletus Felix
All seems not to be well within the All Progressives Congress in Cross River State as information reaching newsroom has it that, the Prince Bassey Otu's faction of the APC is in panic over recent legal actions of one of the party's gubernatorial aspirants in the last primary elections held this year.
Sen. John Owan -Enoh having failed to secure a favourable judgment from the lower court in Calabar last month is said to have secretly appealed the judgement of the high court. This information is obtained from Owan Enoh's official page.
The message reads in part:
"Accept my apology for keeping you largely in the dark and saying nothing since after the unfortunate judgment of the 24th of October.
I know how badly disappointed you all felt. I felt no less. I took my time before getting to you because I needed to be sure of the appropriate response to the judgment.
I can now confirm that an Appeal against the judgment has been formally entered by our legal team to the Calabar Division of the Court of Appeal. Meeting the timelines has not come easy but we've. Have no doubt about the strength of our case as well as our legal team.
But no matter how strong these both are, never forget the strength of our 'By God's Grace ' slogan. We ought to always pray, therefore. I enjoin you all to remain steadfast. God bless you all again and again."
Senator Owan -Enoh who scored 84 votes, as against Prince Otu who scored 811 votes, in the just concluded May 26th APC primaries in the States, on June 8, 2022, had filed an originating summons with the APC, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and Senator Otu as the first, second, and third defendants respectively where he argued among other other things that Senator Otu was not properly cleared to participate in the primaries.
But on October 24th, the Federal High Court sitting in Calabar, Cross State, in Suit No: FHC/CS/106/2022, presided over by Justice Ijeoma declared Senator Bassey Edet Otu as the duly elected All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the State for the 2023 elections.
Ijeoma Ojukwu, held that the plaintiff, Senator John Owan Enoh, had failed to prove his case.
In a seven-paragraph affidavit submitted by the plaintiff, Justice Ojukwu stated that the allegation lacked evidence, hence forgery could not be established.
But in a statement posted on his verified Facebook page Owan Enoh said he has appealed the judgement.
The statement reads in part. " I can now confirm that an Appeal against the judgment has been formally entered by our legal team to the Calabar Division of the Court of Appeal. Meeting the timelines has not come easy but we've. Have no doubt about the strength of our case as well as our legal team.
But no matter how strong these both are, never forget the strength of our 'By God's Grace ' slogan. We ought to always pray, therefore. I enjoin you all to remain steadfast. God bless you all again and again."
Born on 4th June, 1996, Enoh had represented Etung state constituency in the Cross River State House of Assembly, thereafter he represented Obubra/ ring Federal Constituency in the green chambers of the national assembly before he later became a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2015, where he represented the Central Senatorial District of Cross River State in the 8th Assembly of the Senate.
He was a member of Grassroots Democratic Movement, later All People's Party, then People's Democratic Party (PDP) up until May 2017 when he defected to the ruling All progressive Congress (APC) and contested for governorship losing to incumbent governor Ben Ayade.
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