The Court of Appeal in Lagos dismissed Eseme Eyiboh’s All Progressives Congress (APC) action for “lack of merit” and proclaimed Okpolupm Etteh of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the representative of Akwa Ibom State’s Eket/ONNA/Esit Eket/Ibeno Federal Constituency.
The panel chaired by Justice Jummai Hannatu C. Sankey issued the decision on Thursday.
In his ruling, the presiding judge stated, “We unanimously relied upon the thorough judgment of the Justice Kudirat Jose-led Tribunal, which had affirmed Hon. Etteh, winner of the House of Representatives election of February 25, 2023 for Eket/ONNA/Esit Eket/Ibeno Federal Constituency, as declared by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), having scored 33,001 votes against his opponent Eyiboh (16,909 votes)” .
The court ordered Eyiboh, who claimed Etteh’s certifications were fabricated based on mere conjecture, to pay N300,000 to each of the respondents.
In his plea, Eyiboh claimed that Etteh, the PDP candidate, was not entitled to run in the election owing to certificate fraud and sought the Tribunal to negate his eligibility and proclaim him (Eyiboh) the winner.
