The House of Representatives Election Petition Tribunal has nullified the election of Simon Atigwe, the member representing Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency in Enugu State, affirming Dennis Agbo of the Labour Party (LP) as duly elected candidate for the constituency.
Atigwe, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was initially declared the winner of the February 3, 2024, re-run election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after securing over 600 votes to edge out his closest river, Agbo.
Atigwe was declared winner by INEC after polling 23,863 votes against Agbo who garnered 23,226 votes during the exercise in the state.
However, Agbo, who had previously won the February 25th, 2023, election but was subsequently sacked by the appellate court, challenged Atigwe’s declaration at the tribunal.
Agbo, after the election was concluded, approached the tribunal, alleging that the re-run election was marred by irregularities, including incorrect computation of results and significant non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
After listening to all parties, the tribunal ruled that Atigwe vacate the seat as the representative of Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency.
During the ruling on Wednesday, the Tribunal headed by Justice H. N. Kunaza, held that the petition had merit and declared Agbo as the actual winner of Igboeze North/ Udenu Federal constituency.
The panel ruled that the declaration of the PDP candidate as the duly elected was invalid, null, and void after deducting 2,000 votes from the votes of the PDP candidate.
The court further restored the votes of the February 25, 2023 election with the PDP having 14,229 and the LP candidate, Agbo having 28,870.
It also held that Atigwe was not duly elected based on the valid votes cast as the petitioner won with 23,221 votes while the PDP got 21,863 votes.
Therefore, the Tribunal declared that the certificate of return issued to Atigwe should be withdrawn and issued to Agbo immediately.
