The House of Representatives tribunal has invalidated the election of Simon Atigwe, the incumbent representative of the Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency, and has pronounced Dennis Nnamdi Agbo of the Labour Party (LP) as the rightful winner of the Igbo Eze North/Udenu Federal constituency rerun election.
On February 3rd, 2024, the rerun election results initially declared Atigwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the victor, with 23863 votes, surpassing Agbo, who garnered 23226 votes.
However, following Agbo's appeal to the tribunal citing electoral irregularities, including incorrect computation of results and substantial non-compliance with the electoral act, the tribunal, presided over by Justice H N Kunaza, ruled in Agbo's favor.
The tribunal adjudged the addition of 2000 votes to the PDP's candidate as void, restoring the original vote counts from the February 25th, 2023 election, with 14229 votes for the PDP and 28870 for the LP candidate Rt. Hon Dennis Agbo.
Consequently, the tribunal deemed Atigwe's election invalid and directed the withdrawal of his certificate of return, to be subsequently issued to Agbo, who won with 23,221 valid votes, as opposed to PDP's 21,863 votes.