Simon Atigwe, a member of the House of Representatives representing the Igbo-Eze North/Udenu Federal Constituency in Enugu State, has been removed from office.
The tribunal, led by Justice H. N. Kunaza, has also declared Dennis Agbo of the Labour Party (LP) as the winner of a rerun election held in February.
Dennis Agbo was initially declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the National Assembly Election on February 25, 2023.
However, Oby Ajih, the APC candidate, contested the election results at the Court of Appeal in Lagos State.
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Mrs. Ajih argued that the election process was flawed because her party’s logo was missing from INEC’s EC8A form. In November 2023, the court invalidated the election and mandated a rerun within 90 days.
In the rerun election held on February 3 this year, Simon Atigwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was declared the winner, with INEC reporting that he received 23,863 votes, defeating Dennis Agbo of the Labour Party, who garnered 23,226 votes. Atigwe was sworn into office later that month.
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However, Dennis Agbo challenged Atigwe’s victory at the tribunal. Agbo, a former banker, contended that the rerun was flawed due to incorrect result tabulation and significant non-compliance with the Electoral Law 2022, among other issues.
Delivering its judgment on Wednesday, the tribunal found merit in Dennis Agbo’s petition and declared him the rightful winner of the rerun election for the constituency.
Ifeanyi Ogenyi, Agbo’s counsel, confirmed this to Premium Times.
The panel, led by Justice Kunaza, ruled that Simon Atigwe was not duly elected based on the valid votes cast. According to the tribunal, Agbo secured 23,221 votes, while Atigwe received 21,863 votes.
The tribunal instructed INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Atigwe and to issue it to Agbo instead.
