BREAKING: Supreme Court Dethrones Obong Of Calabar (DETAILS)

BREAKING: Supreme Court Dethrones Obong Of Calabar (DETAILS)

After years of legal wrangling, the Supreme Court deposed the Obong of Calabar, Édidem Ekpo Okon Abasi-Otu V, on Friday.

The court upheld the decision of the Appeal Court, Calabar, and ordered a new election in a decision written by Justice Amina Ahgid and read by Justice Akomaye Agim.

The deposed Obong is still eligible to run, and this will be the fourth time he has had to step down for a selection process.

That Etubom Anthony Ani, and others in a suit filed by his lead counsel, Mr. Joe Agi(SAN), sued Etubom Ekpo Okon Abasi Otu and others in their capacities as members of the Etuborns’ Traditional Council for jettisoning the screening process of the Western Calabar under the then Chairman, Etubom Abasi-Otu, now the Obong of Calabar, that had screened and selected Etubom Ani as their sole candidate.

Etubom Ani filed the suit immediately after the Etuboms’ Conclave convened and declared Etubom Abasi Otu the Obong-elect, not after he was crowned the Obong of Calabar.

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On January 30, 2012, Justice Obojor A. Ogar of the Cross River State High Court dismissed Abasi Otu as the Obong of Calabar in favor of Etubom Anthony Ani and overturned the Appeal Court’s decision in favor of the deposed Obong.

However, the Obong and others challenged the High Court decision at the Appeal Court in Calabar, and were fired again by the court, with a new election ordered.

In his judgment delivered on June 4, 2013, the Lead Judge at the time, Justice Garba Lawal, who is now a Justice of the Supreme Court, ordered:

“That the 1st appellant, Abasi Otu, was traditionally qualified and eligible to vote and be voted for as the Obong of Calabar under Exhibit 1/20 at the time of the selection process.”

As a result, the Appeal Court overturned the selection process that resulted in Etubom Ani’s selection 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 under Article 5(a) (ii) (iv) of Exhibit 1/20.

The court ordered it to “conduct another process of selecting a new Obong of Calabar in accordance with the provisions of Exhibit 1/20 and in strict compliance with natural justice rules.”

According to the summary of the judgment made available to newsmen in Calabar immediately after it was delivered on January 13, 2023, a new election will be held in accordance with the Palace’s 2002 constitution, in accordance with equity and actual justice.

Some of the Etuboms who gathered there for an emergency meeting sang a song that “till tomorrow Edidem Ekpo Okon will still win them till tomorrow” at the Obong’s private residence in Adiabo.

The apex court will dethrone an Obong for the first time in the throne’s history.

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