2007 ELECTION: Supreme Court Affirms Obot Winner Of Uyo Federal Constituency

With a few months to the forth coming general election, the Supreme Court on Monday affirmed the election of Mr. Emmanuel Obot as the winner of the 2007 election into the House of Representatives for Uyo Federal Constituency.

The apex court unanimously dismissed an appeal brought by Mr. Bassey Etim who was sent packing by the appellate court after about 3 years of representing the constituency at the House of Representatives.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Calabar had earlier declared Obot the winner of the election and had asked Bassey who was illegally representing the constituency to vacate the seat.

Etim had approached the Supreme Court asking it to stop the Court of Appeal in Calabar  from going ahead to hear the appeal brought before it challenging his continued stay in the House of Representatives as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party representing Uyo Federal Constituency but that did not stop the appellate court from going ahead to hear and determine the case. At the end, the appellate court declared Mr. Obot the rightful candidate of the PDP and made an order directing Etim to vacate the seat.

Etim’s case at the appellate court soured when the Peoples Democratic Party wrote to the apex court to say that it did not authorize the suit which Etim was pursuing at the court.

The party had written through its Assistant Director Legal, Intelligence and Security, Mr. Garba Ibrahim, on 7th July 2009 absolving the party from any pending appeal filed on its behalf by Etim and directed the chambers of Afe Babalola, Mr. Etim’s counsels, not to pursue any appeal that had to do with the said constituency on its behalf.

The party described it as strange the claims by Etim that the party had filed an appeal at the Supreme Court on the dispute over Uyo Federal Constituency when the party had not done so and had never contemplated doing so.

By Nnamdi Felix / Abuja