The Court of Appeal in Enugu has upheld the ruling of the House of Representatives tribunal, resulting in the ousting of Hon. Simon Atigwe, the member representing Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency.
The court confirmed that Hon. Dennis Nnamdi Agbo of the Labour Party, who was initially declared the winner of the February 25, 2023 National Assembly election, is the rightful representative.
Agbo was previously sworn in but was removed following a re-run election on February 3, 2024, which led to Atigwe being declared the winner.
However, Agbo contested this decision, leading to the consolidation of his petition against Atigwe by the Appeal Court on Wednesday, ultimately resulting in Atigwe’s removal from the House of Representatives.
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In delivering the judgment, the Appeal Court stated that Atigwe of the PDP was not duly elected based on valid votes cast during the re-run election and reinstated Agbo as the legitimate winner. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had reported that Atigwe received 23,863 votes, while Agbo received 23,226.
Agbo, who had previously won the February 25, 2023 election before being unseated, argued before the tribunal that the re-run election suffered from significant irregularities, including incorrect vote counts and substantial non-compliance with the electoral act.
In their ruling on Wednesday, the tribunal, led by Justice H.N. Kunaza, determined that Agbo’s petition was valid and declared him the true winner of the Igbo Eze North/Udenu Federal constituency. The panel invalidated 2,000 votes that had been erroneously added to the PDP candidate, restoring the original vote counts of 14,229 for the PDP and 28,870 for Agbo.
Justice Kunaza’s panel concluded that Atigwe was not elected based on valid votes, declaring Agbo the winner with 23,221 votes against Atigwe’s 21,863. Consequently, the certificate of return previously issued to Atigwe is to be revoked and reissued to Hon. Agbo.
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