A Federal Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu State has upheld the ruling of the House of Representatives tribunal, sacking Simon Atigwe, the member representing Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency and declared Mr. Dennis Agbo, the Labour Party candidate, as the duly elected winner.
Agbo was initially declared the winner of the February 25, 2023 National Assembly election and later sworn in. However, a re-run election held on February 3, 2024, led to Atigwe’s swearing-in as the winner, representing the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
Agbo then challenged the result at the Tribunal and his case was upheld, a decision which has now been affirmed by the Court of Appeal.
This means Atigwe is no longer a member of the House of Representatives, and Agbo’s victory is now recognised.
Delivering its judgement, the appellate court held that Atigwe of the PDP wasn’t duly elected by the valid votes cast in the rerun election and declared Dennis Agbo of the Labour Party as the rightful winner of the election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared that the PDP’s candidate polled a total of 23,863 votes to defeat the Labour Party candidate who it said scored 23,226 votes.
In their ruling on Wednesday, the tribunal headed by Justice H N Kunaza said that the petition had merit and declared Honourable Dennis Nnamdi Agbo the actual winner of Igbo Eze North/ Udenu Federal constituency.
Justice Kunaza’s panel declared invalid, null and void the 2000 votes added to the PDP candidate and restored the votes of 25th February 2023 of 14,229 for the PDP and 28,870 for the LP candidate, Dennis Agbo.
It also held that Simone Atigwe of the PDP was not duly elected by the valid votes cast as the petitioner won with 23,221 and PDP 21,863 votes and as such, the certificate of return issued to Atigwe should be withdrawn and issued to Hon Agbo.
