The National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba, Delta State has declared Hon. Ndudi Elumelu of the Peoples Democratic Party as the winner of the February 25 House of Representatives election.
While nullifying the election of Ngozi Okolie of the Labour Party (LP), the tribunal declared that Elumelu won the election as conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency in the lower chamber.
Ndidi Elumelu, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had polled 33,456 votes in the election but filed a petition asking the court to disqualify Okolie for reasons that contravenes the electoral process.
He opined in his petition, that Okolie was not properly sponsored by the Labour Party and that he did not resign his position as a public office holder.
In its judgement, the three-member tribunal panel headed by Justice A.Z. Mussa disqualified Okolie and declared Elumelu, the winner of the election.
The court held that Okolie was not a member of the Labour Party as of May 28, 2022, when the party’s primary was held.
The court also held that Okolie did not resign from public office to contest the elections.
Speaking after the ruling, the petitioner’s counsel, Andrew Osemenem said, “The petitioner founded his petition on one ground, and that is the ground of qualification.
“That ground, we said through the witnesses and documents that the Labour Party candidate was not a member of the Labour Party as of 28th of May, 2022 when they purportedly held primaries for the National Assembly Election.
He said the court agreed that there were no primaries, there was no sponsorship, and the Labour Party did not conduct any primary into the NASS.
