The Court of Appeal has sacked PDP’s Simon Atigwe and declared Labour Party’s Dennis Agbo as the rightful winner of the Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency. The ruling follows a tribunal decision that found the rerun election results were marred by irregularities.
In a decisive legal ruling, the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu has upheld the tribunal’s decision that sacked Hon. Simon Atigwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from representing the Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency in the House of Representatives. The court instead declared Hon. Dennis Nnamdi Agbo of the Labour Party (LP) as the rightful winner of the election.
The appellate court’s ruling on Wednesday marks a turning point in the electoral dispute that followed the February 25, 2023, National Assembly election. Initially, Agbo had been declared the winner of the 2023 election and was sworn into office. However, a rerun election held on February 3, 2024, overturned Agbo’s victory, and Atigwe was subsequently sworn in as the elected representative.
Not satisfied with the rerun result, Dennis Agbo petitioned the second election tribunal, citing electoral malpractice, including the wrong computation of votes and non-compliance with the Electoral Act. In its ruling, the Tribunal agreed with Agbo’s argument, determining that the PDP candidate’s victory was marred by irregularities.
The Court of Appeal reaffirmed the tribunal’s judgment, stating that Simon Atigwe was not duly elected by the valid votes cast in the rerun. The court restored Dennis Agbo’s rightful position as the elected representative, confirming that he secured 23,221 votes compared to Atigwe’s 21,863.
Justice H.N. Kunaza, head of the tribunal panel, declared the 2,000 votes erroneously added to the PDP candidate as invalid and restored the original February 25, 2023, election results. Agbo had polled 28,870 votes in that election, significantly ahead of Atigwe’s 14,229 votes, making him the rightful winner.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was directed to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Atigwe and reissue it to Hon. Dennis Agbo of the Labour Party, sealing the legal victory for the LP candidate.
This judgment puts an end to months of electoral controversy, reestablishing Dennis Agbo as the duly elected representative for the Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency.
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