September 10, (THEWILL) – The Imo State National and State Houses of Assembly Election Tribunal sitting in Nasarawa has sacked Ikeagwuonu Ugochinyere, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member representing Ideato North and South Federal Constituency of Imo State.
The ruling followed a petition marked: EPT/IM/HR/10/2023 filed before the Tribunal by candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abazu Chika Benson.
The Petitioner had contended that Ugochinyere was not qualified to participate in the February 25 National Assembly Election because the primary election of the PDP where he emerged as a candidate was conducted at a venue outside the constituency.
In a judgment on Sunday, a three-member panel of the tribunal, led by Justice Anthony Akpovi, upheld the argument of the petitioner.
The court held that the primary election the PDP conducted on May 25, 2022, which produced Ugochinyere as its candidate, was held at Aladinma Shopping Mall, a location that was outside Ideato North/South Federal Constituency.
“Failure of the 3rd respondent (PDP) to abide by the sacrosanct provision of the Electoral Act invalidated its sponsorship of the 2nd respondent,” Justice Akpovi held.
The tribunal maintained that for a primary election to be valid, it must be conducted in compliance with section 29 (1) of the Electoral Act.
INEC had declared Ugochinyere as the winner of the Ideato North and South Federal Constituency election with a total of 13,026 votes. The candidate of the LP, Chigozie, came second with 5,696 votes, and the petitioner came third with a total of 2,368 votes.
However, the tribunal held that owing to the principle of margin of lead, the candidate of the LP, Chigozie, could but be declared the winner of the seat, since INEC admitted that it could not hold the election in 55 polling units in the constituency, owing to activities of unknown gunmen.
Consequently, it ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to, within 90 days, conduct a supplementary election in 55 polling units where the petitioner successfully proved that the election was never held.
The tribunal also barred Ugochinyere and the PDP from participating in the supplementary election, having violated the Electoral Act by conducting an invalid primary election.
