The two-man panel of the National Assembly and House of Assembly, chaired by Justince Cornelius Akintayo, has upheld the victory of Mrs. Nkeriuka Onyejiocha as the duly elected member representing Isiuakwato/Umunneochi constituency seat in the House of Representatives in the February 23rd national Assembly election.
Onyejiocha was re-elected into the House of Representatives for the fourth term, after polling a total of 14,712 votes to defeat her closest rival Mr. Ude Achara of the Peoples Democratic party who polled 10,064 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the poll, Ude Achara approached the tribunal to challenge the declaration of Onyejiocha by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) as winner of the of Isiuakwato/Umunneochi Federal House of Representatives seat election.
Achara claimed in his petition before the tribunal that the return of Nkeiruka Onyehiocha was invalid, citing malpractices that characterized the last feburary 23rd national Assembly in some parts of the constituency.
He equally sought the relief of the court to cancel the victory of the 1st respondent(Onyejiocha), claming that the federal lawmaker did not win majority number of votes cast during election.
The tribunal had on August 22nd adopted the final written addresses of the counsels of the parties in the suit, where they were also given time to make their final argument and submission.
However, Justice Akintayo-led tribunal while delivering it’s verdict on Tuesday afternoon, in Achara’s petition ruled, “The claim by the petitioner that the election was marred by violence cannot stand. There is no where in the world election is conducted devoid of any form of violence.
“We considered the merit of the suit if the February 23rd national Assembly election that held in Isiuakwato/Umunneochi federal constituency of Abia state was in line with substantial part of the electoral act.
“On this ground, we dismiss the petition for lacking in merit”.
DAILY POST reports that the tribunal awarded a cost of Two hundred Thousand Naira(N200,000) on the petitioner.
