The National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Enugu has declared candidate of the People’s Democratic Party PDP, Engr Dr Anayo Onwuegbu the rightful candidate to represent Aninri/Awgu/Oji River federal constituency in the 10th National Assembly.
The tribunal asked the Independent National Electoral Commission to issue him with Certificate of Return against Engr.Chijioke Stanislaus Okereke of Labour Party ,earlier declared winner of the February 25, 2023 National Assembly Election.
The 3-man panel led by Justice Nusirat I. Umar made the declaration on the conviction that Engr.Okereke was not a candidate in the election as his name did not appear in the result sheet as the candidate of Labour party.
The tribunal gave the verdict on Saturday, September 9, on the strenght of the petition and evidences tendered by Onwuegbu’s counsels before the tribunal.
The panel held that Okereke was not a candidate for the election and accordingly, directed INEC to issue a certificate of return to the Onwuegbu.
It would be recalled that the forner House of Representatives member of Aninri/Awgu/Oji River Federal Constituency, Hon Toby Okechukwu(PDP) romanced the Labour Party iin his ambition to seek reelection for a fourth tenure, immediately after he was defeated by Engr.Onwuegbu during PDP party primaries held at Awgu Local Government headquarters..
Hon Toby Okechukwu’s name still appeared on the list published by INEC as LP candidate at the proper election held on February 25, 2023.
The tribunal also was informed that Hon Toby Okechukwu’s name was written on the result sheet and not that of Engr. Stanislaus Okereke.
The 3-member panel was convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Engr. Chijioke Okereke was not a candidate of the election, therefore granted the petitioner, Dr Onwuegbu the PDP candidate his request.
By this verdict, the PDP in Enugu State have recovered another House of Reps seat from Labour Party. Aftermath of February 23, National Assembly election, INEC declared LP to have won seven out of the eight federal constituency seats of the state.
Prince Cornelius Nnaji, the PDP candidate for Enugu East/Isi -Uzo Federal Constituency, earlier on Friday, September 8, was declared by the tribunal as the winner of the election against Prof. Sunday Nnamchi earlier declared winner by INEC.
As at the time of filling this report, it was gathered that the affected LP candidates, Hon Okereke and Prof.Nnamchi, who are already performing legislative functions at the green house, vowed to appeal against the tribunal’s judgement.
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