CURRENT REPORT BLOG the Court of Appeal in Abuja has overturned the judgment delivered on July 24 by the National and State Houses of Assembly Election Tribunal in Asaba, which had declared Ndudi Elumelu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the election for Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency in Delta State.
In a judgment delivered on Thursday, September 13, the appellate court instead proclaimed Ngozi Okolie of the Labour Party (LP) as the rightful victor of the election. The court found fault with the tribunal’s decision to annul Okolie’s election and subsequently dismissed the petition submitted by Elumelu before the initial tribunal, which had led to the annulled verdict.
The Court of Appeal concurred with the arguments presented by the Labour Party’s lawyer, Mahmud Magaji (SAN), stating that, contrary to the tribunal’s findings, Okolie had been validly nominated and sponsored by his party. Moreover, it affirmed that Okolie had fulfilled the constitutional requirement by resigning from his position as a Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the Delta State Government.
