COURT SACKS FEDERAL LAWMAKER

A Federal Lawmaker representing Igboeze North/Udenu Federal Constituency, Engr Simon Atigwe, has been sacked by the bye-election petition tribunal.

The tribunal, which convened in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, declared that Hon Dennis Agbo, the Labour Party candidate, was the rightful winner of the rerun election conducted on February 3, 2024.

Agbo had initially secured victory in the 2023 general election, but this was overturned by the Court of Appeal, which called for a rerun in select polling units due to irregularities.

The rerun election results were contested by Agbo, who argued that the election was marred by errors in the result computation and significant non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

In its decision, the tribunal, led by Justice H N Kunaza, found Agbo’s petition to be valid

The tribunal concluded that the 2,000 votes attributed to the PDP candidate, Atigwe, were invalid, thus restoring Agbo’s victory from the initial 2023 election.

The tribunal declared that Agbo had won with 23,221 votes, surpassing Atigwe’s 21,863 votes. Consequently, the tribunal ordered the withdrawal of the certificate of return previously issued to Atigwe and directed that it be reissued to Hon Dennis Nnamdi Agbo.

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