Nigeria – Court of Appeal Sacks PDP’s Atigwe, Declares Labour Party’s Agbo Winner
By Utebor Paul, Nigeria
The Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu, on Wednesday, upheld the decision of the House of Representatives Election Petition Tribunal, which sacked Hon. Simon Atigwe of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as the representative for Igboeze North/Udenu Federal Constituency.
The court, in its ruling, declared the Labor Party (LP) candidate, Hon. Dennis Nnamdi Agbo, as the rightful winner of the February 25, 2023, National Assembly election.
Agbo had initially been declared the winner of the 2023 election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) but was removed following a re-run election held on February 3, 2024. In that re-run, Atigwe was declared winner by INEC and sworn into office.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, Agbo approached the tribunal, alleging irregularities in the computation of results and non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act. The tribunal, chaired by Justice H.N. Kunaza, found merit in his petition and annulled the 2,000 additional votes credited to the PDP candidate.
The court on Wednesday upheld the tribunal’s ruling, stating that the February 3, 2024, re-run was flawed and that Atigwe was not duly elected by valid votes cast. The court reaffirmed Agbo’s victory, restoring the results of the February 25, 2023, election, which gave Agbo 28,870 votes and Atigwe 14,229 votes.
With this ruling, Hon. Simon Atigwe has been removed from the House of Representatives, and Hon. Dennis Nnamdi Agbo has been reinstated as the representative for Igboeze North/Udenu Federal Constituency.