By Esther Ibe, Owerri
The Court of Appeal in Enugu has upheld the ruling of the House of Representatives tribunal, resulting in the dismissal of Hon. Simon Atigwe, the representative for the Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency.
In a judgment delivered on Wednesday, the court found that Hon. Atigwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was not duly elected based on valid votes from the rerun election. The court subsequently declared Dennis Agbo of the Labour Party as the rightful winner of the February 3, 2024, rerun election.
The ruling was unanimous, with the panel, chaired by Justice Ekanem, affirming that Hon. Agbo had indeed won. Initially, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had reported Atigwe as the victor, with 23,863 votes against Agbo’s 23,226.
Hon. Agbo had previously won the February 25, 2023, election, but his victory was overturned by an appellate court. He then sought redress at the tribunal, contending that the election results were flawed due to incorrect vote computations and significant violations of the electoral act.
On August 14, the tribunal, led by Justice H. N. Kunaza, ruled that Agbo’s petition had merit, declaring him the legitimate winner of the Igbo Eze North/Udenu constituency. The tribunal invalidated 2,000 votes that had been incorrectly attributed to Atigwe and restored the February 25, 2023, results, showing 14,229 votes for the PDP and 28,870 for Agbo.
The panel concluded that Atigwe was not duly elected, with Agbo receiving 23,221 votes compared to Atigwe’s 21,863. Consequently, the certificate of return issued to Atigwe was ordered to be revoked and granted to Hon. Agbo, reinstating him in the House of Representatives.