Tribunal dismisses Nnamani’s petition against senatorial election

A petition filed by Senator Chimaroke Nnamani of the Peoples Democratic Party challenging the victory of Senator Kelvin Chukwu of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, has been dismissed by a National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Enugu.

The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Chukwu the winner of the Enugu East Senatorial District poll after scoring 69,000 votes to defeat Nnamani, who polled a total of 49,000 votes.

Nnamani however, approached the tribunal challenging the election on grounds of over-voting, irregularities, election malpractices, and non-compliance with the electoral guidelines. He asked to be declared the rightful winner of the election or for the results of the polls to be invalidated. 

Delivering judgement on the case, a three-member panel led by Justice Nusirat I. Umar ruled that Chukwu, who replaced his brother Oyibo Chukwu, who was brutally assassinated a few days before the election, rightfully won his election. 

The tribunal which held that the petition was “vague, lacking in merit, incompetent, generic, and an academic exercise”, also awarded a cost of N500,000 against the petitioners in favour of the three respondents, Kelvin Chukwu, LP, and INEC.