Cross River North: Appeal Court Refuses to Overrule Self on Jarigbe

Respite yesterday finally came the way of the Senator-elect for Cross River North senatorial district, Hon. Agom Jarigbe, following the refusal of the Court of Appeal, Abuja to set aside its earlier declaration of the lawmaker as the winner of the December 5, 2020 by-election for the senatorial district.

The Court of Appeal in Abuja in two separate rulings held that it cannot overrule itself in its own judgment, when it has not been established that there was a slip in the delivery of such a particular judgment.

Two contestants, Chief Joe Agi (SAN) and Senator Stephen Odey had last week in their separate applications invited the Court of Appeal, Abuja to revisit and review the case so as to set aside its earlier judgment by the Calabar Division which declared Jarigbe as the authentic winner of the Cross River North senatorial by-election.

They had claimed that the appellate court erred in its decision when it dismissed their own appeals against the judgment of the National and State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal and found merit in Jarigbe’s appeal, and went ahead to order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately issue Jarigbe certificate of return which the electoral umpire “wrongly withdrew” from him.

Ruling in the two applications however, the presiding judge, Justice Monica DongbanMensem, specifically told the applicants that the appellate court lacked the jurisdiction to review and amend its own decision in the Cross River Senatorial district by-election delivered by the Calabar Division of the court.

In a unanimous decision, the five-member panel held that the applicants have not shown any slip for the court to amend its own judgment.

According to the presiding judge, the court has performed its judicial duties under Section 246 of the Constitution and has become ‘functus officio.’

According to the law, the Court of Appeal is the final court for National and State House of Assembly election.

Unlike the governorship and presidential elections, they don’t get up to the Supreme Court.

In the ruling, the panel observed that the applicants were not sincere in their application and only sought for review because the outcome of the appeal at the Calabar Division was not favourable to them.

Justice Dongban-Mensem, held that, “the court will not overrule its earlier decision at the whims and caprices of the parties”.

While insisting that the court has entered judgment in its final appellant jurisdiction, she held that the applications are an abuse of the court process, adding that the applications ought not to have been filed in the first place.