The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Wednesday affirmed the decision of the election petition tribunal, which invalidated the election of Honourable Emmanuel Ukpong-Udo, a member representing Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom State in the House of Representatives.
Naija News reports that the court sitting presided over by Justice Abba Mohammed, ruled that the declaration and return of Ukpong-Udo by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was in direct contravention of the explicit provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of Election 2022, and Manual for Election Officials 2023.
Earlier, the Tribunal directed a supplementary election to be held in the polling units where the election did not take place in the Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency.
A total of 33 polling units in the Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency are expected to undergo an election to determine the rightful winner of the Federal Constituency.
Last year, INEC announced Ukpong-Udo of the Young Progressive Party (YPP) as the victor of the February 25 House of Representatives Election, securing 19,926 votes, surpassing his closest rival, Glory Edet of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 15,765 votes.
The election was declared inconclusive by INEC and a supplementary election was scheduled for certain polling units due to violence.
However, the court deemed this decision to be against the Electoral Act.
During the supplementary election, more violence occurred, leading INEC to cancel the election. Nevertheless, almost a month later, the YPP candidate was declared the winner by the electoral body.
Not satisfied with this declaration, the PDP candidate, Glory Edet, along with her counsel and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Uwemedimo Nwoko, approached the tribunal to challenge the validity of Ukpong-Udo’s return.
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