The legal battle over who is the Cross River governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) has take another dimension as the three-man appeal panel has withdrawn from the case over alleged N250 million bribe scam.
Senator John Owan-Enoh and Pastor Usanu Usani have been locked in a battle for the APC since the conduct of governorship primary in the state.
The three judges sitting in Calabar, Tuesday, recused themselves from the case following petitions against them by the Godwin Etim John-led faction of the party.
The court, however, insisted that its order last week for stay of execution or maintenance of the status quo ante on the candidacy of the APC in Cross River State subsists.
By this action, Sen. John Owan-Enoh and other candidates of the party whose names were submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by the party’s National Working Committee and listed by INEC remain the candidates of the party in Cross River State for the governorship and state assembly elections come Saturday March 9, 2019.
The lead judge, Justice S.A. Owoade, had announced to the court that, upon arriving his chambers in the morning, he was served with two petitions written by Etim John.
The two petitions were peparately addressed to the President of the Court of Appeal as well as to the National Judicial Commission, (a non-existing commission) alleging that he has lost confidence in the Justice Owoade-led panel of judges on the basis of an alleged N250 million bribe.
The petition did not mention who paid the N250 million bribe and to who in particular.
Counsel to Senator Owan-Enoh, Awa Kalu, SAN, as well as counsel to APC, Mba Ukweni, SAN, argued that the petitions should be ignored as they were not dated and not properly routed.