By Amah
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Dennis Nnamdi Agbo of the Labour Party was on Wednesday declared as the rightful winner of the rerun election for the Igboeze North/Udenu Federal Constituency of Enugu State conducted on February 3, 2024.
The House of Representatives Election Petitions Tribunal also sacked Simon Atigwe of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who had been declared winner of the rerun election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
According to the results released by INEC, Atigwe had received 23,863 votes, while Agbo reportedly got 23,226 votes.
However, dissatisfied by the declaration, Agbo, who had initially won the election on February 25, 2023, but was later ousted by the appellate court, proceeded to the tribunal to seek redress.
Among other issues, Agbo contested Atigwe’s declaration on the basis of erroneous result calculations and gross violations of the Electoral Act.
Ruling on the petition on Wednesday, August 14, the Justice H. N. Kunaza-led upheld Agbo’s petition and declared him as the rightful winner of the election.
It nullified the additional 2,000 votes given to Atigwe and reinstated the votes from the February 25, 2023 election, which were 14,229 for the PDP and 28,870 for Agbo.
Furthermore, the tribunal stated that Atigwe was not duly elected based on the valid votes cast, as Agbo received 23,221 votes compared to the his 21,863 votes and, consequently, nullified the Certificate of Return issued to Atigwe, ordering that it should reissued to Agbo.
