Enugu: Tribunal Sacks Another LP Lawmaker

The Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Enugu, Wednesday, nullified the election of Labour Party’s Hon Bright Ngene as the House of assembly member representing Enugu South Urban constituency.

It also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct another election in the constituency, in a ruling read by A. M. Abubakar.

Abubakar, who led the judgement, said the ruling of the Tribunal was on the grounds that the number of votes accredited during the elections was below the number of disenfranchised voters in the constituency.

INEC was wrong to have declared Bright Ngene winner of the election, the judge ruled, adding that INEC ‘erred by not declaring a re-run election before declaring a candidate winner of the elections’.

The Tribunal further ordered that the re-run election be conducted within ninety days of the delivery of the judgement ‘given today the 13th September 2023’.

PDP’s Sam Ngene, one-term state Assembly member, had challenged the declaration of the lawmaker by INEC as the winner of the election on the grounds that the number of cancelled votes was more than the number of votes credited to the first respondent, Hon Bright Ngene.