Justice Abba Mohammed of the Court of Appeal Abuja affirmed the election petition tribunal’s decision to nullify the election of Honourable Emmanuel Ukpong-Udo, who represents Akwa Ibom State’s Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.
The Appellate Court ruled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s declaration and return of Ukpong-Udo violated explicit sections of the Electoral Act 2022, Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections 2022, and Manual for Election Officials 2023.
The Tribunal had also ordered a supplementary election in the polling units where the election was not held in Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency. Election is to be conducted in 33 polling units in Ikono/ Ini Federal Constituency to determine the winner of the election in the Federal Constituency.
Last year, INEC declared Ukpong-Udo of the Young Progressive Party (YPP) as the winner of the February 25 House of Representatives Election, having scored 19, 926 votes ahead of his closest challenger, Glory Edet of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 15,765 votes.
INEC, however, declared the election as inconclusive and rescheduled a supplementary election in certain polling units, following issues of violence, a position the court held is contrary to the Electoral Act.
More violence was met at the supplementary election, forcing INEC to cancel the election. The electoral body however declared the YPP candidate winner almost a month later.
Unhappy with the declaration, the PDP candidate, Glory Edet through her counsel and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Uwemedimo Nwoko, approached the tribunal seeking the invalidation of the return of Ukpong-Udo.