On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu upheld the ruling of the House of Representatives tribunal that dismissed Hon. Simon Atigwe, the member representing the Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency.
The appellate court reinstated Hon. Dennis Nnamdi Agbo, the Labour Party (LP) candidate, who had been declared the winner of the February 25, 2023 National Assembly election but was subsequently ousted following a rerun election on February 3, 2024.
Although Atigwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was sworn in as the winner of the rerun, Agbo filed a petition against Atigwe, which the Appeal Court consolidated and ruled on Wednesday.
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In its judgment, the Appeal Court stated that Atigwe was not duly elected based on the valid votes cast in the rerun election, declaring Dennis Agbo of the Labour Party the rightful winner.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had previously announced that Atigwe received 23,863 votes, defeating Agbo, who garnered 23,226 votes.
Agbo, who had initially won the February 25, 2023 election but was later removed from office, challenged Atigwe’s declaration at the tribunal, claiming the election was plagued by incorrect result computations and significant non-compliance with the electoral act, among other issues.
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In its ruling, the tribunal, led by Justice H.N. Kunaza, determined that Agbo’s petition had merit and declared him the actual winner of the Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency.
The panel ruled that the 2,000 votes added to the PDP candidate were invalid and restored the original February 25, 2023 votes: 14,229 for the PDP and 28,870 for Agbo.
The court concluded that Atigwe was not duly elected based on valid votes cast, with Agbo receiving 23,221 votes compared to Atigwe’s 21,863 votes
. As a result, the certificate of return issued to Atigwe was ordered to be withdrawn and reissued to Hon. Agbo.
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