A’Court Sacks Elumelu, Reinstates LP’s Okolie as House of Representatives Member

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Court of Appeal in Abuja Thursday, reinstated the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Ngozi Okolie, as the authentic winner of the February 25 election for Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency of Delta State.

The appellate court reinstated Okolie, shortly after it set aside the judgment of the National and State Houses of Assembly Election Tribunal in Asaba which had earlier nullified Okolie’s victory at the poll.

While the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared the candidate of the Labour Party as the winner of the Oshimili/Anochia Federal Constituency election, the tribunal on July 24, in a judgment, nullified the victory on the grounds that Okolie ought not to be on the ballot on account of unlawful and illegal nomination.

Miffed by the verdict, Okolie had approached the appellate court for an order reversing the decision of the lower tribunal for not being in tandem with the law.

However, in its final judgment on Thursday, the appellate court faulted the tribunal for voiding Okolie’s election and proceeded to dismiss the petition filed by Elumelu before the tribunal on which the voided judgment was given.

The justices stated that contrary to the findings of the tribunal, Okolie was duly nominated, sponsored by the Labour Party, adding that the appellant’s resignation as a Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Delta State Government was in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Okolie had, in the notice of appeal dated July 27, formulated 12 grounds of appeal in respect of facts and law, and prayed the court to averse its mind to the record of appeal in making its assessment.

The appellant also urged the Court of Appeal to grant the following orders, namely: an order allowing his appeal against the tribunal’s judgment in petition no: EPT/DL/HR/06/2023; an order setting aside the said judgment; and also an order entering judgment in favour of the appellant (Okolie) by dismissing Elumelu’s petition. 

According to Okolie in his petition, the tribunal seemed to have orientated itself as a Father Christmas in favour of Elumelu, adding that the tribunal snubbed extant principles of procedural and substantive law to arrive at its decision.

In his contention, Okolie, who insisted that out of the 22 witnesses listed by Elumelu, 20 were abandoned, and the remaining two, who testified, did not even lead any oral evidence in respect of any of the grounds of the petition, adding that they did not lead any oral evidence to prove the petitioner’s complaint that Okolie was not qualified to contest the election.