Appeal Court nullifies election of LP’s Denis Agbo in Enugu

• The court delivered its judgement on Friday via Zoom

The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos State has sacked Denis Agbo, the member elected on the platform of the Labour Party in the last election.

The court removed Agbo, who was representing the Udenu/Igboeze North federal constituency of Enugu State, and ordered a fresh election within 90 days.

The court, delivering its judgement on Friday via Zoom, ruled on the appeal of All Progressives Congress candidate, Dr Oby Ajih, mandating the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct a fresh election for all parties involved.

Ajih had approached the appellate court, challenging the ruling of the tribunal that the election did not follow the right process as the logo of her party wasn’t in the EC8A form.

The appeal court, in a judgement that lasted less than 30 minutes, agreed that the appeal had merit and set aside the judgement of the tribunal.

They said that the non-inclusion of the logo of the APC in the result sheet (form EC8A) isn’t in compliance with the electoral act.

In another development, the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has upturned the verdict of the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Umuahia, which dismissed the election of the member representing Isikwuato Umunneochi Federal Constituency in Abia State, Hon. Amobi Ogah.

The Tribunal had in September nullified Hon. Ogah’s election, after which he called for calm over the judgement as he headed for the Court of Appeal to challenge the judgement.

The Election Tribunal had declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate and current Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Hon. Nkiruka Onyejeocha, as the election winner for alleged non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act.