By NewsBits
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 judgement delivered on Monday, ruled that the appeal against the tribunal ruling that Engr. Anayo Onwuegbu (Omeihe-Ukwu) is the rightful winner of the election 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 3-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 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 judgement was given in his favour after Hon. Okechukwu distanced himself from being a member of the Labour Party.
