August 14, (THEWILL) – The bye-election petition tribunal sitting in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, has sacked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) House of Representatives member representing Igboeze North/Udenu Federal Constituency of Enugu State, Simon Atigwe.
A three-member panel of the tribunal headed by Justice H. N. Kunaza declared the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Dennis Agbo, winner of the rerun election held on February 3, 2024.
Agbo earlier won the seat during the 2023 general election but the Court of Appeal annulled his victory and ordered a re-run in about ten polling units.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Atigwe the winner of the re-run election held on February 3, 2024, after he polled 23,863 votes to defeat Agbo, who secured 23,226 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the re-run poll, Agbo petitioned the tribunal and argued through his lawyers that the election was marred by wrong computation of results and substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act among others.
Ruling on Wednesday, Justice Kunaza’s panel declared invalid, null and void the 2,000 votes added to the PDP candidate and restored the votes of February 25, 2023, of 14,229 for the PDP and 28,870 for the LP candidate, Dennis Agbo.
It also held that Atigwe was not duly elected by the valid votes cast, as the petitioner won with 23,221 and the PDP 21,863 votes and as such, the certificate of return issued to Atigwe should be withdrawn and issued to Agbo.
