The National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Enugu on Wednesday affirmed the election of Senator Kelvin Chukwu of the Labour Party (LP), dismissing the petition by Senator Chimaroke Nnamani of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the victory of Kelvin Chukwu of the Labour Party (LP) in the 18 March Senatorial election.
The LP candidate had polled 69,136 votes to defeat Mr Nnamani, a former governor of Enugu State, who scored 48,701 votes.
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the district, Adaku Ogbu-Aguocha came third with 8,548 votes.
Hence, The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Mr Chukwu the winner of the Senate election for Enugu East District.
However, The former governor (Mr. Nnamani) alleged that the election was marred by over-voting, irregularities, election malpractices, and non-compliance with the 2022 Electoral Law and election guidelines. He urged the tribunal to declare him the winner of the election or declare as invalid the results of the exercise.
Delivering judgment on Wednesday, the tribunal upheld the victory of Mr Chukwu in the victory. The three-member panel led by Justice Nusirat I. Umar held in a unanimous judgment that Chukwu, who replaced his brother Oyibo Chukwu, who was brutally assassinated a few days before the election, was the duly elected senator representing Enugu East Senatorial District of Enugu State.
It awarded a cost of N500,000 against the petitioners in favour of three respondents, Mr Chukwu, the LP and INEC.
The three-member panel of judges headed by Justice Nusirat Umar held that the petition was “vague, lacking in merit, incompetent, generic and mere academic exercise”.
