In voiding the election, the three-man panel headed by A. M. Abubakar ordered a rerun election in the Enugu South Urban constituency within 90 days.
The National and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Enugu has voided the declaration of Hon. Bright Ngene of the Labour Party as the House of Assembly member representing Enugu South urban constituency.
In voiding the election, the three-man panel headed by A. M. Abubakar ordered a rerun election in the Enugu South Urban constituency within 90 days.
Giving reason for the nullification of the election, the tribunal said it was based on the grounds that the number of votes credited to the said winner of the election, was fewer than the number of disenfranchised voters in the constituency.
Accordingly, the tribunal held that the Independent National Election Commission was wrong to have declared Bright Ngene the winner of the election, adding that the election umpire should have declared the election inconclusive and gone for a re-run at the units where it didn’t conduct the election based on the margin of lead.
The judge ruled that a re-run election be conducted in the constituency to determine the actual winner of the election.
The tribunal further directed INEC to conduct the re-run election within 90 of the delivery of the judgement given on Wednesday, September 13, 2023.
Sam Ngene, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had challenged the declaration of Bright Ngene by the electoral body as the winner of the election.
He argued in his petition that the number of cancelled votes was more than the number of votes credited to the first respondent, Bright Ngene and that the election ought to have been declared inconclusive and a re-run held to determine the actual winner.
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