The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Thursday set aside the judgement of the National and State Houses of Assembly Election Tribunal in Asaba, Delta State capital, which declared Ndudi Elumelu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as winner of the House of Representatives seat for Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency in the February 25, 2023 election.
The appellate court, in two judgements, declared Ngozi Okolie of the Labour Party (LP) as winner of the election.
The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal had in July nullified Okolie’s election, saying that Okolie was not duly sponsored by the Labour Party since he was not a member of the party as of May 28, 2022 when the party’s primary was held.
The court had, therefore, declared the runner-up in the election, Elumelu of the PDP, as the winner.
But the Appeal Court on Thursday faulted the tribunal for voiding Okolie’s election and proceeded to dismiss the petition filed by Elumelu before the trial tribunal on which the voided judgement was given.
It agreed with the lawyer to the Labour Party, Mahmud Magaji, SAN, that contrary to the findings of the tribunal, Okolie was duly nominated, sponsored by his party and that he resigned his appointment as a Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Delta State Government as required by the constitution.
