4th November, 2023
Former governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade, has lost his bid to overturn the victory of Jarigbe Jarigbe of the Peoples Democratic Party as the winner of the Cross River North Senatorial District election.
The Appeal Court, sitting in Lagos on Saturday, thrashed the petition of the former governor and affirmed the victory of Jarigbe.
The court also awarded N500,000 against Ayade in favour of the incumbent senator.
Ayade lost the February 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 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 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 a 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.