The National Assembly Electoral Petition Tribunal sitting in Enugu on Friday confirmed the election of Hon. Stainless Nwodo as the duly elected member representing Igbo-Etiti/Uzo-Uwani Federal Constituency in the National Assembly.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Chief Martins Oke, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Samuel Ekwueme, had challenged Nwodo’s victory in court.
The petitions by PDP and APC
The PDP candidate questioned Nwodo’s qualifications, while the APC candidate alleged irregularities in the election in which INEC declared Nwodo the winner.
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The panel, led by Justice Nusirat Umar, dismissed both petitions accordingly.
On the petition by the PDP candidate, Justice Umar ruled that the petitioner failed to prove the case of forgery against the respondents, pointing out that there was a contradiction in the letter from Enugu State Examination Development Centre (EDC).
The Judge ruled that no witness came from EDC to testify against the certificate, and said that the issue of inconsistencies in the name couldn’t be proved by the petitioners.
The panel, thereafter, dismissed the petition for lack of merit.
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Nwodo thanks his supporters
In a speech to his supporters in Enugu, Nwodo thanked the judges for “walking the path of justice” and assured his constituents of his commitment to serve them better.
He said: “I am glad that the committee has confirmed the bold commission given to me against the grain by my people.”
“Our people made a bold statement on February 25th and I do not ignore their great expectations. I assure you that we are already on our way to making our constituency better than we knew.” (YAYA)
