Court nullifies Ikenga Ugochinyere election as Federal Rep, orders replacement

The Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Nassarawa state has declared null and void the election of Ikenga Ugochinyere, a PDP member representing Ideato North/South Federal Constituency.

The court therefore ordered his replacement through a supplementary election within 90 days, with a special directive excluding PDP candidates from participating in the reelection process.

This was unveiled in a unanimous decision on Sunday by a three-member panel of the Tribunal 3, which conducted its proceedings in Mararaba, Nasarawa State.

The court upheld that the nomination of the former Representative to contest the Ideato North/South Federal Constituency election was void.

Petition against Ugochinyere was submitted to the tribunal by his opponent from the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abazu Benson, which prompted the court to make a thorough investigation of his claim. After establishing the truth of the matter, the leading justice unseated Ugochinyere on Sunday, September 10, 2023.

The statement read in part:

“The judgment followed a petition that was lodged before the tribunal by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Abazu Benson.

In the verdict of his removal, Justice Akpovi said, “Failure of the 3rd respondent (PDP) to abide by the sacrosanct provision of the Electoral Act invalidated its sponsorship of the 2nd respondent.”

He added that for a primary election to be valid, it must be done in compliance with section 29 (1) of the Electoral Act.

“It held that in view of the fact that Ugochinyere was not validly nominated, he was therefore not qualified as at the time the House of Reps election held.

In addition, the tribunal held that owing to the principle of margin of lead, candidate of the LP, Chigozie, could but be declared the winner of the seat.

“Since INEC admitted that it could not hold election in 55 polling units in the constituency, owing to activities of unknown gunmen.

“It therefore directed INEC to conduct supplementary poll in the remaining polling units with all the parties participating, except the PDP,” the Tribunal stated.

The other two panel members were Justices Usman Kudu and Ibrahim Mohammed.

(NAN)