The Appeal Court sitting in Lagos has affirmed Jarigbe Jarigbe of the Peoples Democratic Party as the winner of the Cross River North Senatorial District election.
The court, on Saturday, dismissed the petition filed by former governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade, of the All Progresives Congress on the election.
The court also awarded N500,000 against the former governor in favour of the incumbent senator.
Ayade lost the February senatorial election to the incumbent senator, Jarigbe.
The former governor who was in the Senate between 2011 and 2015, lost the National Assembly elections conducted on Saturday with a margin of 19, 550. Ayade scored 56,595 votes against Jarigbe of the Peoples Democratic Party who scored 76,145 votes.
Earlier in September, the Cross River State National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Calabar had declared Jarigbe as the winner of the February 25, senatorial district elections and dismissed Ayade’s petition for lack of merit.
In the five-hour judgment, the chairman of the Tribunal, Justice M. A. Sambo, said the petitioners (Ayade and APC) failed to prove their case substantially and dismissed all their petitions, saying there were no credible evidences tendered before the Court to prove that the elections were fraught with malpractices.
Jarigbe, a two-time member of the House of Representatives, was elected into the Senate through a bye-election in September 2021 following the death of Dr Rose Okoh.
