In a significant legal victory, the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu has upheld the decision of the House of Representatives tribunal that sacked Hon. Simon Atigwe, the member representing Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency.
The ruling favored Labour Party (LP) candidate, Hon. Dennis Nnamdi Agbo, who was initially declared the winner of the February 25, 2023, National Assembly election.
Agbo, who was sworn in after his victory, was later removed following a rerun election held on February 3, 2024, which declared Atigwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner.
However, Agbo filed a petition with the second election tribunal, challenging the rerun results.
On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal consolidated Agbo’s petition and ruled that the PDP’s Atigwe was not duly elected by valid votes cast in the rerun election.
The court reinstated Dennis Agbo as the rightful winner of the election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had earlier announced that Atigwe secured 23,863 votes in the rerun, narrowly defeating Agbo, who reportedly scored 23,226 votes.
Agbo, however, argued that the election was marred by incorrect result computation and significant non-compliance with the electoral act.
Justice H.N. Kunaza, who headed the tribunal, ruled in Agbo’s favor, noting that 2,000 votes had been unlawfully added to the PDP candidate’s tally.
The tribunal restored the results of the original February 25, 2023 election, which showed Agbo winning with 28,870 votes, compared to Atigwe’s 14,229.
The ruling voided the certificate of return previously issued to Atigwe and ordered it to be reissued to Hon. Dennis Agbo, securing his place as the legitimate representative of Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency.