The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba, the Delta State capital, on Monday nullified the election of Ngozi Okolie of the Labour Party (LP) for the House of Representatives.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Okolie winner of the Aniocha-Oshimili Federal Constituency election during last February’s presidential and National Assembly elections.
But Ndudi Elumelu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) petitioned the tribunal, claiming that the LP candidate was not qualified to contest the poll.
In its judgement on Monday, the tribunal held that Okolie was not duly sponsored by the LP since he was not a member of the party as of 28th May 2022, when the party’s primary was held.
The court therefore declared the runner-up in the election, Elumelu the winner.
Elumelu was the minority leaders of the last session of the House of Representatives. He was first elected into the House in 2007.