The Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu has upheld the decision of the House of Representatives tribunal, removing Hon. Simon Atigwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the representative of Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency.
In its ruling on Wednesday, the appellate court reinstated Hon. Dennis Nnamdi Agbo of the Labour Party (LP), declaring him the rightful winner of the February 2023 National Assembly election.
Initially declared the winner of the 2023 election and sworn into office, Agbo was sacked following a rerun election in February 2024. PDP’s Atigwe was subsequently sworn in as the winner. However, Agbo filed a petition contesting the rerun results, citing irregularities in vote computation and violations of the electoral act.
The Appeal Court ruled that the rerun election was not conducted in compliance with the electoral laws and found that Atigwe was not duly elected by valid votes. The tribunal’s earlier judgment, led by Justice H.N. Kunaza, revealed that over 2,000 votes were wrongly added to Atigwe’s tally, and the original February 2023 results were restored, showing Agbo with 28,870 votes compared to Atigwe’s 14,229.
The court ordered the withdrawal of the certificate of return issued to Atigwe and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reissue it to Hon. Dennis Agbo.
