Tribunal Nullifies LP Lawmaker Victory, Declares Elumelu Winner

The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Delta State has sacked a member of the House of Representatives, Ngozi Okolie.

The lawmaker, who represents the Aniocha/Oshimili federal constituency on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), was sacked on Monday by the panel sitting in Asaba, the state capital.

According to Premium Times, Mr Okolie created an upset against the former Minority Leader of the House, Ndudi Elumelu, during the 25 February National Assembly elections.

He scored 53, 879 votes against 33, 466 secured by Mr Elumelu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

However, Mr Elumelu, in a petition filed before the panel with case number EPT/DL/HR/06/2023, argued that Mr Okolie’s nomination was not in tune with the relevant laws on the election.

He said the LP did not duly sponsor Mr Okolie because, at the time of the primary election that produced him as the candidate, he (Okolie) was not a member of the party.

The three-member panel, headed by A.Z. Mussa, in its ruling, agreed with Mr Elumelu and disqualified the defendant.

The tribunal also ruled that Mr Elumelu should be returned as the elected representative for the constituency.

Pandora’s box

Although the case is expected to proceed to the Court of Appeal, it has the potential to open Pandora’s box on politicians elected on the platform of the LP.

LP was a fringe party before Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, joined and subsequently emerged as its presidential candidate in 2022.

Mr Obi’s popularity led to the mass defection of politicians to the party, and several candidates for National Assembly rode on his popularity to win their elections.

Many of them are facing questions about their membership in the party in line with Section 77(2 and 3) of the Electoral Act.

“Every registered political party shall maintain a register of its members in both hard and soft copy,” Section 77(2) reads.

Section 77(3) states that “Each political party shall make such a register available to the Commission not later than 30 days before the date fixed for the party primaries, congresses or convention.”

There are indications that many candidates who ran on the party’s platform across the country did not meet the requirement.

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Counsel to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Presidential Election Tribunal had also faulted the nomination of Mr Obi based on the section of the electoral law.

The lawyers had argued that the LP presidential candidate could not challenge the presidential election’s outcome because he was not duly nominated in line with the Electoral Act.

Mr Obi was a presidential aspirant under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the race to the 2023 presidential election but left the party for the LP..