Tribunal fired Imo Reps member, Ikenga Ugochinyere

Ikenga Ugochinyere, a member of the House of Representatives, has been fired by the Imo State National and State House of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal.

Under the banner of the PDP, Ugochinyere ran for office.

As Ugochinyere was ruled ineligible to run in the Ideato North/South Federal Constituency election, the tribunal mandated a second election be held in the state within 90 days.

With 13, 026 votes, the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, proclaimed Ugochinyere the victor of the election.

Abazu Benson, a candidate for the All Progressives Congress, received 2,368 votes, placing third behind Obi Chigozie of the Labour Party (LP), who received 5,696 votes.

Benson, a candidate for the APC, submitted a petition with the following markings to the tribunal: EPT/IM/HR/10/2023.

The first through fifth respondents were identified as INEC, Ugochinyere, PDP, Labour Party candidate Obi Paschal Chigozie, and his party, the LP.

The APC candidate contended in the appeal that Ugochinyere was unable to run for office and that all of the votes given to him were invalid.

The PDP held its primary poll at a location outside the constituency, the APC candidate claimed, in violation of a requirement of the Electoral Act 2022.

The three-member tribunal panel, which met in Nasarawa State and reached a unanimous judgement on Sunday, ruled that Ugochinyere was not legally nominated to run for office by the PDP.

Justice Anthony Akpovi, the panel’s chairman, gave the ruling and ordered the electoral umpire to hold the additional vote within 90 days.

The panel added that the PDP and its candidate need to be disqualified from the run-off election.