Obong Of Calabar Is Overthrown By The Supreme Court.
Yesterday, after a 15-year legal battle, the Obong of Calabar, Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi-Otu V, was deposed by the Supreme Court of Nigeria, shocking the city of Calabar, the seat of Cross River State.
But yesterday’s ruling by the Supreme Court, which was authored by Justice Amina Ahgid and read by Justice Akomoye Agim, confirmed the decision of the Appeal Court in Calabar and called for a new election that the ousted Obong is still eligible to run in. He would have to resign for another election process for the fourth time.
That Etubom Anthony Ani and others sued Etubom Ekpo Okon Abasi-Otu and others in their capacities as members of the Etuboms’ Traditional Council for abandoning the screening process of the Western Calabar under the then Chairman, Etubom Abasi-Otu, who is now the Obong of Calabar, that had screened and selected Etubom Ani as their sole candidate. The lawsuit was filed by his lead attorney,
On January 30, 2012, Anthony Ani succeeded Abasi-Otu as the Obong of Calabar, and the Appeal Court’s decision in favor of the ousted Obong was thrown out by Justice Obojor A. Ogar of the High Court of Cross River State.
However, the Obong and others contested the High Court ruling at the Appeal Court in Calabar, leading to their dismissal and the calling of a new election.
The first respondent, Etubom Ani, who admittedly was not inducted into the Etuboms’ Council of the Palace of the Obong at the time of the selection process of the Obong of Calabar, was not traditionally qualified and eligible to vote and be voted for as the Obong of Calabar under Exhibit 1/20, the lead judge at the time, Justice Garba Lawal, who is now a Justice of the Supreme Court, ruled in the judgment delivered on June 4, 2013,
The Appeal Court overturned the selection procedure that resulted in Ani as candidate as well as the March 31 proclamation of Etubom Abasi-Otu as Obong, which was ordered by the Etuboms’ Conclave of the Palace of the Obong of Calabar, whose mandate it is, in accordance with Article 5(a)(ii)(iv) of Exhibit 1/20, which states that “that the first appellant, Abasi
Following its January 13, 2023, delivery, the summary of the ruling that was made accessible to certain newsmen in Calabar declared that “fresh elections would be conducted in compliance with the 2002 constitution of the palace, in keeping with equity and genuine justice.”
Some of the Etubom (Heads of Houses) were brought in for an emergency conference at the palace of the Obong at his private abode at Adiabo with the song “until tomorrow, Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi-Otu would still win them till tomorrow.”
However, yesterday’s celebrations at the Palace of the Obong were in full swing after the Supreme Court’s decision that “eligible the ousted Obong for a second nomination procedure as instructed.”
The palace is certain that he will return.
