Ben Ezechime, Enugu
The State Senatorial Election Petitions Tribunal on Tuesday affirmed Sen. Osita Ngwu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the authentic winner of the Enugu West Senatorial election held on February 25, 2023.
The Labour Party candidate in the election, Mr Oguerinwa Amadi, had petitioned the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the election, citing irregularities and mass rigging.
However, in a ruling on Tuesday, the 3-man members of the tribunal in a unanimous ruling held that the petitioners committed a fatal error in presenting their case by merging allegations of non-compliance with the electoral act and corrupt practices.
The tribunal held that the petitioners should have separated the two cases and particularise their facts to support both positions.
On the allegation of over-voting, the court held that the petitioner couldn’t particularise his pleadings despite bringing witnesses that gave evidence on that and ballot papers.
The court said those ballot papers were dumped on the court and there’s no evidence showing where the ballot papers emanated from.
It would be recalled that the Labour Party won two senatorial seats out of the three seats for Enugu State while PDP won one.
