By Anne Azuka
The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba on Monday nullified the election of Ngozi Okolie of Labour Party as member representing Aniocha/Oshimili Constituency of Delta State in the House of Representatives.
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 in the February 25, 2023 National Assembly election, Ndudi Elumelu of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), as winner.
Elumelu who is the immediate past Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, had in petition number EPT/DL/HR/06/2023, approached the tribunal, seeking to disqualify Okolie on the grounds that he was not properly sponsored by the Labour Party, 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 (Labour Party) 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 shortly, the Petitioners’ Counsel, Andrew Osemenem described the judgement as “a correct exposition of jurisprudence and the law.”
“We also proved and the tribunal agreed with us that there was no primaries, there was no sponsorship, the Labour Party did not conduct any primaries for the National Assembly election.
“And 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 was no primaries.
“The second ground is as we urged the tribunal, the tribunal also found in our favour, was that Okolie was in public office, he did not resign, he continued to collect salaries and emoluments in breach of the law. The tribunal agreed with us.
“So, for these two reasons his election was nullified, and in line with Section 135 of the Electoral Act, Elumelu who was the first runner up, has been declared and returned as winner of that election,” he added.
END.
