A combined photo of Elumelu and Okolie
By Our Reporter
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has overturned the July 24 ruling by the National and State Houses of Assembly Election Tribunal in Asaba, which declared Ndudi Elumelu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner in the recent election for the Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency of Delta State.
In a two-man judgment on Thursday, the appellate court declared Ngozi Okolie of the Labour Party (LP) as the winner of the election.
It faulted the tribunal for voiding Okolie’s election and proceeded to dismiss the petition filed by Elumelu before the trial tribunal and on which the voided judgment was given.
The Court of Appeal agreed with lawyer to the Labour Party, Mahmud Magaji (SAN) that contrary to the finding of the tribunal, Okolie was duly nominated and 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.
It would be recalled that Kenneth Ibe, the returning officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had announced that Okolie polled 53,879 votes to defeat Elumelu, who got 33,456 votes.
