Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu has upheld the judgment of the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal, which nullified the victory of Hon. Simon Atigwe, member representing Udenu/Igboeze North Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.
DAILY GAZETTE recall that after the 2023 general election, Labour Party candidate, Hon. Dennis Agbo, was declared winner and returned elected by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
However, APC candidate, Dr. Oby Ajih, approached the tribunal seeking the nullification of Agbo’s victory on the grounds that her party’s logo did not appear on Form EC8A.
The tribunal dismissed her petition for being vague, generic, nebulous, and lacking in merit.
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At the Appeal Court, her petition was sustained, and the victory of Hon. Dennis Agbo of the Labour Party nullified. The court ordered a fresh election within 90 days.
On February 3rd, the court-ordered fresh election was held, and Hon. Simon Atigwe of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was declared winner by INEC.
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Not satisfied with the outcome, Hon. Dennis Agbo and the Labour Party went to the tribunal with allegations of rigging, falsification of figures, wrong computation, multiple thumb printing, substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act, among others.
The three-man trial tribunal sitting in Abakaliki, nullified the victory of the PDP candidate, Simon Atigwe, and declared Dennis Agbo of the Labour Party the winner of the polls.
However, Simon Atigwe of the People’s Democratic Party appealed the judgment.
DAILY GAZETTE correspondence, who was in court today, reports that the Appeal Court agreed with the judgment of the trial court.
It declared the 2,000 votes added to the PDP candidate invalid, null, and void, and restored the original votes of February 25, 2023.
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“That Atigwe Simon Chukwuemeka was not duly elected by the valid votes cast.”
“That the first petitioner won with 23,221 votes, and the PDP came second with 21,863 votes,” the court held.
“That the tribunal judgment is hereby upheld,” the Court ruled.
The court ordered that the certificate of return issued to Atigwe be withdrawn and issued to Hon. Dennis Agbo.
