The Delta State National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Asaba, on Monday, sacked the lawmaker representing Aniocha/Oshimili Constituency in the House of Representatives, Ngozi Okolie.
The tribunal nullified the election of Okolie, who contested on the platform of the Labour Party, and instead declared the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ndudi Elumelu, winner of the February 25 National Assembly election.
In a 107-page judgment that lasted over five hours, the three-member tribunal, headed by Justice A.Z. Mussa, declared that the LP candidate was wrongfully declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The PDP candidate, Elumelu, who was the Minority Leader of the 9th House of Representatives, had, in his petition marked EPT/DL/HR/06/2023, urged the tribunal disqualify Okolie because he was not properly sponsored by the Labour Party, and that he did not resign his position as a public office holder.
The tribunal upheld the prayer of the petitioners that Okolie was not duly sponsored by the LP as he was not a member of the party as of May 28, 2022, when the primary was purportedly held.
The tribunal also held that Okolie did not properly resign from public office to contest the elections.
Elumelu’s lawyer, Andrew Osemenem, in an interview with journalists, described the tribunal’s verdict as “a correct exposition of jurisprudence and the law.”
