Describing the judgment as “unlawful," Okolie who spoke to journalists in Delta State, said that the judgment had no legal basis.
The member representing Aniocha-Oshimili Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Ngozi Okolie, has faulted the tribunal judgment that annulled his election.
Describing the judgment as “unlawful," Okolie who spoke to journalists in Delta State, said that the judgment had no legal basis.
He cited the recent court judgement in Atiku vs Tinubu, APC, in which the court ruled that issues of candidacy were the internal affairs of political parties.
SaharaReporters had reported on Monday that the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba, Delta State, nullified the election of Okolie, who was elected on the platform of the Labour Party.
The Tribunal subsequently, declared Ndudi Elumelu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the 2023 House of Representatives election for the district.
Ngozi Okolie of the Labour Party, was declared winner of the February 25 House of Representatives election in the federal constituency by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives and candidate of PDP, Ndidi Elumelu, filed a petition before the tribunal praying it to disqualify Okolie.
Elumelu, in the petition no EPT/DL/HR/06/2023, argued that Okolie was not properly sponsored by the Labour Party, and that he did not resign his position as a public office holder.
The three-member tribunal panel headed by Justice A.Z. Mussa, in its rulling, disqualified Okolie and declared the runners up in the election, Elumelu as winner of the election.
The tribunal held that Okolie was not duly sponsored by the Labour Party and that he was not a member of the party as at May 28, 2022 when the primary purportedly held.
It also resolved in favour of the petitioners that the second respondent, (Okolie) did not resign from public office to contest the elections.