The Court of Appeal in Abuja has overturned the judgment of the national and state houses of assembly election tribunal in Asaba.
The tribunal had previously declared Ndudi Elumelu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, as the winner of the 2023 election for the Aniocha/Oshimili federal constituency in Delta State.
But in a judgement on Thursday, the appellate court upheld Ngozi Okolie, the Labour Party (LP) candidate, as the duly elected lawmaker.
Truthlive news recalled that Kenneth Ibe, the returning officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had announced that Okolie polled 53,879 votes to defeat Elumelu, who got 33,456 votes.
However, Elumelu contested the result by filing a petition with the tribunal, arguing that Okolie was not validly sponsored by the LP because he wasn’t a party member as of May 28, 2022, when the party’s primary election took place.
The three-member panel of the tribunal, headed by A.Z. Mussa, in its ruling, agreed with Elumelu and disqualified the LP candidate.
Nevertheless, the Court of Appeal criticized the tribunal’s decision to annul Okolie’s election.
The appellate court concurred with Mahmud Magaji, LP’s counsel, stating that, contrary to the tribunal’s findings, Okolie was indeed properly nominated and sponsored by his party.
Furthermore, the appeal court stated that Okolie resigned his appointment as a senior special assistant (SSA) in the Delta state government, as required by the constitution, before the election.