The election that brought in Ngozi Okolie, a House of Representatives member representing Oshimini/Aniocha Federal Constituency in Delta State, has been nullified by the National Assembly Election Tribunal Petition sitting in the state’s capital, Asaba.
Okolie, who was elected on the platform of the Labour Party, LP, had been declared the winner of the February 25 House of Representatives election in the federal constituency by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), dislodging the then incumbent, Ndidi Elumelu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), from the seat.
But Elumelu, the immediate past Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, approached the tribunal with a petition praying for Okolie to be disqualified.
In petition no. EPT/DL/HR/06/2023, Elumelu argued that Okolie was not properly sponsored by the Labour Party and that he did not resign his position as a public office holder.
In a judgment on Monday, the three-member tribunal panel headed by Justice A.Z. Mussa disqualified Okolie and declared the runners-up in the election, Ndudi Elumelu, the winner of the election.
The tribunal held that the Labour Party did not solely sponsor Okolie, as he was not a member of the party as of May 28, 2022, when the primary was purportedly held.
It was also resolved in favor of the petitioners that the second respondent (Okolie) did not resign from public office to contest the elections.
Speaking with newsmen after the ruling, Counsel for the petitioner, Andrew Osemenem, said, “The petitioner founded his petition on one ground, and that is the ground of qualification.
“On that ground, we said through the witnesses and documents that the Labour Party candidate was not a member of the Labour Party as of May 28, 2022, when they purportedly held primaries for the National Assembly Election.
“We also proved, and the tribunal agreed with us, that there were no primaries, there was no sponsorship, and the Labour Party did not conduct any primary in the NASS.
“Sections 65 and 66 of the constitution require that for a person to be qualified to contest election into the House of Representatives, he must belong to a political party and must be sponsored by that political party.
“In this instance, Okolie, the tribunal found that he was not duly sponsored by the Labour Party because there were no primaries.
“The second ground is that, as we urged the tribunal, the tribunal also found that Okolie was in public office; he did not resign.”
“For these two reasons, his election was nullified in line with Section 135 of the Electoral Act, and Elumelu, who was the first runner-up, has been declared and returned as the winner of that election, he added.”
