From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Attempts by the former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu, to return to the Green Chamber for the fourth time have been stopped by the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division.
The appellate court in a judgment on Thursday, set aside the July 24 judgement of the National and State Houses of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba which declared Elumelu of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) winner of the February 25 election into Aniocha/Oshimili seat at the House of Representatives.
The Court of Appeal upheld the election of Mr. Ngozi Okolie of the Labour Party and faulted the trial tribunal’s voiding of Okolie’s election on grounds of improper nomination by his party.
The appellate court further dismissed the petition filed by Elumelu before the trial tribunal upon which the now-voided judgment was given.
The court agreed with the counsel to LP, 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 to the Delta State Government as required by law.
Reacting to the judgement in Asaba, national vice chairman (South-South) of the Labour Party, Tony Ezeagwu, hailed the appellate court for upholding the mandate of the people of Aniocha/Oshimili constituency.
Ezeagwu faulted the trial tribunal for delving into what he insisted was a pre-election issue.
He advised Okolie not to disappoint his constituents by respecting their mandate with a proactive response to their yearnings and aspirations.
It would be recalled that Elumelu first represented the constituency on the platform of PDP for two consecutive terms between 2007 and 2015 when he unsuccessfully opted to contest the governorship of Delta State.
He successfully staged a return to the House in 2019 and became the Minority Leader. His bid to retain the seat was stalled in the February 25 election when he lost to Okolie of the Labour Party.
The former lawmaker initially got a reprieve with favourable judgement at the tribunal which did not stand further legal scrutiny at the level of the Court of Appeal.