The election of Mr. Ngozi Okolie of Labour Party (LP)as member representing Aniocha/Oshimili Constituency of Delta State in the House of Representatives was nullified, yesterday, by the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba.
In about 107-page judgement that lasted over five hours, the three-member tribunal headed by Justice A.Z. Mussa, disqualified Okolie, and declared the runner up, Ndudi Elumelu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner.
Elumelu, former minority leader of the House of Representatives, had in a petition number EPT/DL/HR/06/2023, approached the tribunal, seeking to disqualify Okolie on the grounds that he was not properly sponsored by LP, and that he did not resign his position as a public office holder.
The tribunal agreed with the petitioners that the second respondent (Okolie) was not duly sponsored by the third respondent (LP) as he was not a member of the party as at May 28, 2022 when the primary purportedly held.
Besides, the tribunal resolved in favour of the petitioners that the second respondent did not resign from public office to contest the elections.
In an interview, petitioners’ counsel, Andrew Osemenem, described the judgement as a correct exposition of jurisprudence and the law.
