The National and State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal (Panel II) sitting in Umuahia, Abia State, Monday nullified the election of the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu.
Kalu, former Abia State governor is the chief whip of the Nigerian Senate, elected under the All Progressives Congress (APC). The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Mao Ohuabunwa challenged Kalu’s victory at the tribunal.
In a unanimous judgment read by a member of the panel, Justice P.C. Igwe, the tribunal held that the mandate that Kalu used in getting to the National Assembly was fraudulently obtained.
The tribunal ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct supplementary elections within 90 days in eight wards in Arochukwu Local Government Area and several polling units in Ohafia and Isukwuato LGAs where election did not hold or votes were cancelled illegally.
In another development, the election tribunal sitting in Abakaliki Ebonyi State capital Monday sacked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) House of Representatives candidate for Ikwo/Ezza South Federal Constituency Laz Ogbe.
Ogbe is the Chairman House Committee on Reformatory Institutions. The tribunal sitting in Abakaliki said that the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Chinedu Ogar was the winner of the election after scoring the highest number of lawful votes.
Meanwhile, the Kaduna Governorship Election Petition Tribunal Monday upheld the election of the State’s governor Nasir El-Rufai. The PDP and its governorship candidate, Alhaji Isah Ashiru filed an application seeking a recount of the votes cast during the March 9 election in the state.
El-Rufai, a candidate of the All Progressives Congress, polled total votes of 1,045,427 to defeat Ashiru who garnered 814,168 votes. The petitioners, however, claimed that the poll was characterised by massive rigging, ballot stuffing, and violence in some parts of the state.
But the chairman of the three-man panel, Justice Ibrahim Bako, said the petitioners were unable to prove their allegations of massive rigging and other electoral irregularities against El-Rufai, before the Tribunal. The tribunal also noted that Ashiru and his party did not have any factual evidence to prove INEC did wrong in returning El-Rufai of the APC as duly elected. The petition was therefore dismissed for lacking merit.
