Appeal Court Upholds Tribunal’s Ruling, Sacks PDP’s Atigwe, Declares Labour Party’s Agbo Winner in Igboeze North/Udenu Federal Constituency
The Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu on Wednesday upheld the decision of the House of Representatives tribunal that sacked Hon. Simon Atigwe, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, as the representative of Igboeze North/Udenu Federal Constituency.
In a significant turn of events, the appellate court reinstated Labour Party (LP) candidate Hon. Dennis Nnamdi Agbo, who had initially won the February 25, 2023 National Assembly election but was removed following a re-run election held on February 3, 2024.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Atigwe the winner of the rerun, stating that he secured 23,863 votes, surpassing Agbo’s 23,226 votes. However, Agbo contested the results, filing a petition against Atigwe and citing the wrong computation of results and substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
The Court of Appeal consolidated Agbo’s petition and, in its ruling, declared the votes added to Atigwe as invalid. The court restored the original February 25, 2023 election results, which showed Agbo had won with 28,870 votes to Atigwe’s 14,229 votes.
The court’s ruling, delivered by Justice H. N. Kunaza, declared that Atigwe was “not duly elected by the valid votes cast” and ruled that the certificate of return issued to him by INEC should be withdrawn and issued to Hon. Agbo.
With this decision, Agbo is set to reclaim his seat in the House of Representatives, marking a victory for the Labour Party and its supporters in the constituency.