Enugu: Tribunal nullifies Atigwe’s election, declares LP’s Agbo winner of Igboeze North/Udenu Constituency

The House of Representatives tribunal has nullified the election of Rt. Hon. Simon Atigwe, who had been representing the Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency.

Hon. Atigwe, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was initially declared the winner of the re-run election held on February 3rd, 2024, after securing 23,863 votes according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

His victory, however, was challenged by Hon. Dennis Agbo of the Labour Party (LP), who had previously won the February 25th, 2023 election before being removed by an appellate court.

Agbo’s petition to the tribunal highlighted issues such as incorrect vote computation and significant non-compliance with the electoral act during the re-run.

On Wednesday, August 14th, the tribunal, chaired by Justice H.N. Kunaza, ruled in favor of Hon. Agbo, declaring him the rightful winner of the Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency.

The panel found that 2,000 votes had been improperly added to the PDP candidate’s tally and corrected the results to reflect Agbo’s actual victory.

The tribunal restored the original votes from the February 25th, 2023 election, showing 14,229 votes for the PDP and 28,870 votes for the LP candidate, Dennis Agbo. Consequently, the tribunal ruled that Hon.

Atigwe was not duly elected and ordered the withdrawal of the certificate of return issued to him.

The certificate will now be reissued to Hon. Dennis Nnamdi Agbo as the legitimate winner.