…Say Asaba Tribunal Judgment Not Within Law
By Georgina Humphrey
The Court of Appeal in Abuja, today, set aside the judgment of the National and State Houses of Assembly Election Tribunal in Asaba which declared Ndudi Elumelu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as winner of the Feb. 25 election for Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency of Delta State.
The appellate court, in two judgments, declared Ngozi Okolie of the Labour Party (LP) as winner of the election.
The Appeal Court faulted the tribunal for voiding Okolie’s election and proceeded to dismiss the petition filed by Elumelu before the trial tribunal on which the voided judgment was given.
It agreed with the lawyer to the Labour Party, Mahmud Magaji, SAN, that contrary to the findings of the tribunal, Okolie was duly nominated, sponsored by his party and that he resigned his appointment as a Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Delta State Government as required by the constitution.