Appeal Court Sacks PDP Reps Member

The Court of Appeal in Enugu has upheld the House of Representatives tribunal’s ruling that removed Hon. Simon Atigwe as member representing the Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency at the green chamber.

According to eports, the court reinstated Hon. Dennis Nnamdi Agbo of the Labour Party (LP) as the rightful winner of the February 25, 2023, National Assembly election.

____Agbo, who had initially been sworn in after winning the election, was later ousted following a rerun election held on February 3, 2024. Atigwe, the candidate from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was subsequently declared the winner of the rerun. However, Agbo challenged…..this outcome, leading the Appeal Court to consolidate his petition against Atigwe’s election.

_____In its judgment, the Appeal Court ruled that Atigwe was not duly elected based on valid votes cast in the rerun election and declared Agbo the legitimate winner. According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Atigwe had garnered 23,863 votes compared to Agbo’s 23,226 votes.

____Agbo had previously won the initial election but was removed by the appellate court. He argued in the tribunal that Atigwe’s declaration was flawed due to improper vote counting and significant violations of the electoral process.

The tribunal, led by Justice H. N. Kunaza, ruled in favor of Agbo, stating that his petition had merit. The panel invalidated the additional 2,000 votes awarded to the PDP candidate, restoring the original counts of 14,229 votes for the PDP and 28,870 for Agbo from the February 25 election.

____Justice Kunaza’s ruling concluded that Atigwe was not duly elected based on valid votes, with Agbo winning with 23,221 votes to Atigwe’s 21,863. The court ordered the withdrawal of Atigwe’s certificate of return and directed that it be issued to Hon. Agbo instead.