Bassey Otu was declared the All Progressives Congress, APC’s candidate for governor in Cross River State for the forthcoming 2023 election by a Federal High Court in Calabar on Monday.
Political parties continue to have the right to choose their governorship candidate, according to Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, who made the assertion while handing down a ruling in a lawsuit in Calabar.
Recall that Otu’s opposition, who was an APC governorship aspirant in the state, Owan Enoh, had approached the court after the primary earlier in the year to seek the disqualification of Otu as the APC’s governorship candidate.
But the judge, in her ruling, stated, “That a candidate contesting for the position of governor must be a Nigerian, meet the stipulated age requirement and have basic qualification according to the constitution.”
According to her, the matter of determining a governorship candidate of a political party is, and remains, the right of a political party.
As the Cross River APC gears itself for the 2023 elections, the development has finally put to rest months of speculations and disagreement.
