News
Appeal Court sacks Enugu PDP Rep, returns Agbo of Labour Party
The Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu, on Wednesday, upheld the ruling of the House of Representatives tribunal that sacked the member representing Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency, Hon. Simon Atigwe.
The appellate court rather returned the candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Hon Dennis Nnamdi Agbo who was declared winner in the February 25th 2023 National Assembly election and sworn in but was sacked for a re-run election that took place on February 3rd 2024.
The Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Atigwe, was subsequently sworn in as the winner of the 2024 election, but Agbo’s petition to the second election tribunal filed against Atigwe was on Wednesday, consolidated by the Appeal Court and sent Atigwe packing from the House of Representatives.
The Appeal Court in delivering the judgement said that Atigwe of the PDP wasn’t duly elected by the valid votes cast in the rerun election and declared Dennis Agbo of the Labour Party as the rightful winner of the election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared that the PDP’s candidate polled a total of 23,863 votes to defeat the Labour Party candidate who it said scored 23,226 votes.
Agbo of the LP who had earlier won the February 25th, 2023 election but was sacked by the appellate court proceeded to the tribunal to challenge Atigwe’s declaration, arguing that the election was marred by wrong computation of result, substantial non-compliance to the electoral act among others.
In their ruling on Wednesday, the Tribunal headed by Justice H N Kunaza said that the petition had merit and declared Hon. Dennis Nnamdi Agbo the actual winner of Igbo Eze North/ Udenu Federal constituency.
Justice Kunaza’s panel declared invalid, null and void the 2000 votes added to the PDP candidate and restored the votes of 25th February 2023 of 14,229 for the PDP and 28,870 for the LP candidate, Rt Hon Dennis Agbo.
It also held that Atigwe Simon Chukwuemeka of the PDP was not duly elected by the valid votes cast as the petitioner won with 23,221 and PDP 21,863 votes and as such, the certificate of return issued to Atigwe should be withdrawn and issued to Hon Agbo.
The appellate court rather returned the candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Hon Dennis Nnamdi Agbo who was declared winner in the February 25th 2023 National Assembly election and sworn in but was sacked for a re-run election that took place on February 3rd 2024.
The Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Atigwe, was subsequently sworn in as the winner of the 2024 election, but Agbo’s petition to the second election tribunal filed against Atigwe was on Wednesday, consolidated by the Appeal Court and sent Atigwe packing from the House of Representatives.
The Appeal Court in delivering the judgement said that Atigwe of the PDP wasn’t duly elected by the valid votes cast in the rerun election and declared Dennis Agbo of the Labour Party as the rightful winner of the election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared that the PDP’s candidate polled a total of 23,863 votes to defeat the Labour Party candidate who it said scored 23,226 votes.
Agbo of the LP who had earlier won the February 25th, 2023 election but was sacked by the appellate court proceeded to the tribunal to challenge Atigwe’s declaration, arguing that the election was marred by wrong computation of result, substantial non-compliance to the electoral act among others.
The Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Atigwe, was subsequently sworn in as the winner of the 2024 election, but Agbo’s petition to the second election tribunal filed against Atigwe was on Wednesday, consolidated by the Appeal Court and sent Atigwe packing from the House of Representatives.
The Appeal Court in delivering the judgement said that Atigwe of the PDP wasn’t duly elected by the valid votes cast in the rerun election and declared Dennis Agbo of the Labour Party as the rightful winner of the election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared that the PDP’s candidate polled a total of 23,863 votes to defeat the Labour Party candidate who it said scored 23,226 votes.
Agbo of the LP who had earlier won the February 25th, 2023 election but was sacked by the appellate court proceeded to the tribunal to challenge Atigwe’s declaration, arguing that the election was marred by wrong computation of result, substantial non-compliance to the electoral act among others.
In their ruling on Wednesday, the Tribunal headed by Justice H N Kunaza said that the petition had merit and declared Hon. Dennis Nnamdi Agbo the actual winner of Igbo Eze North/ Udenu Federal constituency.Justice Kunaza’s panel declared invalid, null and void the 2000 votes added to the PDP candidate and restored the votes of 25th February 2023 of 14,229 for the PDP and 28,870 for the LP candidate, Rt Hon Dennis Agbo.
It also held that Atigwe Simon Chukwuemeka of the PDP was not duly elected by the valid votes cast as the petitioner won with 23,221 and PDP 21,863 votes and as such, the certificate of return issued to Atigwe should be withdrawn and issued to Hon Agbo.
An unspecific number of people are believed to be trapped under an uncompleted storey building which collapsed in Lagos.
The building housing Equal Rights restaurant located at Oremeta Street, Ojodu Lagos, went down on Saturday morning.
It is believed, however, that some people are still trapped underneath the rubble.
Details later….
Edo State Police Command says it has rescued 10 University of Benin, UNIBEN, students abducted by suspected kidnappers at Ofosu area along the Benin-Ore expressway.
It was gathered that the students were on their way to Babcock University for Annual GYC Africa Conference when they were kidnapped on April 16 at the community bordering Edo and Ondo States.
The Public Relations Officer of the Command, Moses Yamu disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen.
Yamu said the rescued students are eight males and two females.
He said during the rescue operation, one of the suspected kidnappers was killed, while other escaped with bullet wounds.
He also disclosed that one of the Police officers, an Inspector sustained gunshot injury and is currently responding to treatment in an undisclosed hospital.
The statement read: “The Command wishes to update the general public of the unfortunate kidnap of some students who were on their way to Babcock University for Annual GYC Africa Conference on 16/04/2025 at a location bordering Edo and Ondo States.
“On receipt of this information, the Commissioner of Police, Monday Agbonika, immediately deployed operatives of the Ohosu Division, IRT, tactical teams alongside vigilantes and hunters into the bushes for possible rescue of the victims and arrest of suspects.
“During the operation, operatives engaged in a gun duel with these kidnappers. In the process, one of the kidnappers was neutralised, while others escaped with bullet wounds.
“The operatives were cautious to avoid collateral damages as the kidnappers used the victims as human shields. Unfortunately, an Inspector of Police sustained a gunshot injury and is currently responding to treatment.
“This rescue effort eventually paid off as the ten (10) kidnapped students comprising eight (8) male and (2) females were released due to intense pressure mounted on them.”
The West African Examination Council (WAEC) in Nigeria has sanctioned and revoked about 574 schools found to have engaged in examination malpractices.
Head of WAEC national office, Dr Amos Dangut, disclosed this while speaking to journalists at the national headquarters in Lagos yesterday.
He stated that the examination body has submitted the list of schools involved to the Federal Government through the Ministry of Education for sanctions.
The schools involved in malpractices would no longer be recognised as WAEC examination centres.
He said, “This year, we have shared with them a total of 574 schools whose recognition has been withdrawn. This measure will also be adopted by all examining bodies.
“These schools are no longer recognised as examination centres by WAEC, and we will not conduct exams there.”
Ahead of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), scheduled from Thursday, April 24 to Friday, June 20, 2025, Dangut revealed that 1,973,253 candidates from 23,554 schools have registered for the examination.
This is an increase of 158,627 candidates compared to last year.
He said there are 979,228 males, while 994,025 are females.
Dangut highlighted WAEC’s commitment to leveraging technology, introducing the first-ever Computer-Based WASSCE (CB-WASSCE) for school candidates.
He disclosed that no two candidates will receive identical questions to discourage cheating.
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