The National Assembly Election Tribunal sitting in Enugu has dismissed the petition filed by the former Governor of Enugu state, Sen. Chimaroke Nnamani, of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who challenged the election of Sen. Kelvin Chukwu of the Labour Party (LP).
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had declared Barr. Chukwu, who replaced his late brother, murdered during end period of the campaign ahead of the February 25, 2023, as the winner of the Enugu-East Senatorial election.
He scored over 69,000 votes to defeat Chimaroke Nnamani who secured about 49,000 votes.
Not satisfied, sen. Nnamani claimed that the election was marred by over-voting, irregularities, election malpractices and non-compliance with electoral guidelines and petitioned the tribunal, urging it to declare him the rightful winner of the election or cancel the election outrightly.
Delivering judgment on the petition, the tribunal which consists of a three-man panel led by Justice Nusirat I. Umar Unani, upheld Chukwu’s victory and awarded a cost of N500,000 against the petitioners in favour of the three respondents, Kelvin Chukwu, Labour Party and INEC.
The three Justices unanimously dismissed the petition for being “vague, lacking in merit, incompetent, generic and an academic exercise”.
