Akwa Ibom state governor, Umo Eno, has urged the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos to dismiss the appeal brought before it by the governorship candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Senator Bassey Akpan.
He also asked the appellate court to uphold the decision of the lower court, which declared him winner of the governorship election held on March 18, 2023.
In an appeal filed by the candidate of the YPP, Senator Akpan and his party against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Eno and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the governor held that the Governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal in Uyo was right in upholding his victory in the 2023 governorship election after Akpan failed to establish his claims of forgery and electoral malpractices.
When the appeal came up at the Appeal Court, Lagos Division Monday, the governor through his lead counsel, Paul Usoro, SAN, faulted the arguments by the appellants that the judgment of the Supreme Court in the matter of certificate forgery against the 2nd respondent by Mr. Akan Okon, was different from the certificate forgery case brought before the tribunal.
“My lord, when the court gave the judgment, it clearly decided that the said document is not forged but belongs to the 2nd respondent. It implies that the judgment is applicable to PDP, INEC, the court, or any establishment for that matter”, said the counsel for the 2nd defendant.”
Counsel for INEC, Kolapo Kolade, SAN, said the petitioners never produced either a true owner of the certificate, which they claimed did not truly belong to Pastor Eno, and that they never produced any document to buttress their claims of forgery.
