Onor Vs Otu: Attention Shifts To Gov’s Qualifications As PDP Candidate Wants Tribunal To Declare Him Winner
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Even with the withdrawal of all other grounds of petitions against the governor of Cross River State, Senator Prince Bassey Otu, respite is still far away for the Cross River State governor. He will still have to answer questions concerning his academic certificates at the tribunal.
On Monday, Prof Sandy Onor, the PDP candidate during the 2023 election in Cross River State had announced through his counsel, that he was withdrawing all other grounds of his petition against, except the aspect that had to do with the qualification of the governor who ran against him.
Before now, the PDP candidate had questioned the victory of Otu, alleging that he did not win the election and that there were irregularities during the election.
A candidate of the APC in the 2019 gubernatorial election in the state, Senator John Owan Enoh had dragged Otu to court before the general election. He had challenged the academic credentials of the governor and wanted the court to disqualify him as the party’s candidate.
But he was to drop the case when Senator Bola Tinubu appealed to him to respect him and drop the case against the APC candidate to avoid distractions. Owan Enoh accepted and withdrew the case from the court.
It is the same issue that Onor now wants to concentrate on at the tribunal as his major ground for the nullification of Otu’s election.
Director-General of The Caterpillar Movement, the political machinery of Onor, Chief Obi Bisong explained to TNN on Monday that Onor’s case at the tribunal now is that he should be declared winner because those who ran against him and were declared winner by INEC were not qualified to contest the election ab initio.
Besides, Onor is also challenging Otu’s deputy’s qualification. Bisong told TNN that “we are not only challenging Prince Bassey Otu’s educational qualifications, his deputy, Rt Hon Peter Odey has issues with membership of political party. Odey is a member of the PDP to date. He was not qualified to run for election under the APC. Secondly, he took oath of allegiance of another country and therefore not qualified to run for deputy governor by the provisions of the 1999 constitution of the federal Republic of Niger as amended.”
