The court of appeal sitting in Lagos has dismissed the appeal by Barr. Chijioke Okereke of the Labour Party against his sack by the Enugu State National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal as the member representing Aninri/Awgu/Oji-River Federal Constituency.
The judges in a judgment delivered on Monday, ruled that the appeal against the tribunal ruling that Engr. Anayo Onwuegbu (Omeihe-Ukwu) is the rightful winner of the election and lacks merit.
The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Enugu had on September 8th, 2023 sacked Barr. Okereke, who was earlier declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
But the three-man panel led by Justice Nusirat I. Umar declared Engr. Anayo Onwuegbu (Omeihe-Ukwu), the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, as the duly elected candidate of the February 25th, 2023 poll.
Engr. Onwuegbu had approached the tribunal challenging the declaration of Barr. Okereke on the grounds that he was a stranger to the election as his name isn’t on the result sheet as the candidate of the Labour Party.
The panel held that Okereke wasn’t a candidate for the election and accordingly, directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to issue a certificate of return to the PDP Candidate.
The name of former minority leader of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Toby Okechukwu appeared on the list published by INEC for the election. Also, his name appeared on the result sheet and not that of Okereke.
Okereke had approached a Federal High Court sitting in Enugu to claim the ticket of the Labour Party and a judgment was given in his favor after Hon. Okechukwu distanced himself from being a member of the Labour Party.
