Tribunal sacks PDP's Mbah in Enugu, orders rerun

The Enugu State House of Assembly election petition tribunal has sacked Okey Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state House of Assembly.

On Friday, September 29, the court nullified the election of Mbah, a member representing the Nkanu East state constituency in the House of Assembly, The Nation reported.

According to the judgment on Friday, the process by which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Mbah as the winner of the state constituency election was not in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.

The Justice Adie Attoe Onyebueke-led three-man panel, in their judgment on the petition filed by Okwudiri Nnaji of the Labour Party, ordered INEC to conduct a rerun in some polling units in the Owo and Ugbawka wards.

According to the tribunal, the number of votes returned from the two wards is more than the number of registered and accredited voters in those areas. The court faulted the rerun by INEC.

The court then ruled that the electoral body should conduct a rerun election in the polling units that have been affected within 90 days.

Mbah is the latest lawmaker from the PDP to be sacked by the tribunal sitting in Enugu.

The tribunal across the country has been passing its verdicts on several election petitions filed by politicians in the 36 states of the country, including the federal capital.