The Court of Appeal in Enugu has upheld the ruling of the House of Representatives Tribunal, sacking Rep. Simon Atigwe of the People’s Democratic Party as the member representing the Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency.
In a dramatic reversal, the appellate court declared Rep. Dennis Nnamdi Agbo of the Labour Party the rightful winner of the February 25th, 2023 National Assembly election.
Initially sworn in, the court reinstated him but later dismissed him to prepare for a re-run election on February 3rd, 2024.
Persecondnews recalls that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared that the PDP’s candidate polled a total of 23,863 votes in the rerun election to defeat the Labour Party candidate, who it said scored 23,226 votes.
Agbo, who was sacked by the appellate court, proceeded to the tribunal to challenge Atigwe’s declaration, arguing that the election was marred by the wrong computation of result and substantial non-compliance to the Electoral Act, among others.
In their ruling on Wednesday, the Tribunal headed by Justice H. N. Kunaza said that the petition had merit and declared Agbo the actual winner of the Igbo Eze North/Udenu Federal constituency.
Justice Kunaza’s panel declared invalid, null, and void the 2000 votes added to the PDP candidate and restored the votes of February 25, 2023, of 14,229 for the PDP and 28,870 for Agbo.
It also held that Atigwe was not duly elected by the valid votes cast, as the petitioner won with 23,221 and PDP 21,863 votes, and as such, the certificate of return issued to Atigwe should be withdrawn and issued to Agbo.
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