Orji Uzor Kalu, a senator representing the Abia-North Senatorial district, had his victory in the February 25 election upheld on Tuesday by the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Umuahia.
In a unanimous ruling on Tuesday, the three-member panel led by Justice Samson Paul-Gang rejected the petition of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Mao Ohuabunwa and Labour Party (LP) candidate Nnamdi Iro-Orji.
The court ruled that the election of All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Kalu was lawful and thus upheld his victory.
The tribunal judges also rejected the petitioners’ claims that voting did not occur in more than 120 polling units, most of which were located in the Ohafia and Arochukwu Local Government Areas of the zone.
Separate suits filed by second- and third-place finishers Iro-Orji and Ohuabunwa alleged irregularities in the election of the former Abia Governor as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The tribunal also rejected the PDP and Labour Party’s claim that the margin of victory for Kalu over the first and second place finishers was much larger than the total number of registered voters in the allegedly affected polling units.
The Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Constitution upheld Kalu’s eligibility to run for office after it had previously overturned his conviction and trial.
The tribunal judges interpreted and put to rest two other matters filed by the Labour Party challenging Kalu’s election, and thus declared Kalu the duly elected Senator of Abia North.
Kalu, the current Chairman of the Senate Committee on Privatization and Commercialization, won the heatedly contested senate election on February 25 with 30,805 votes, beating out Iro-Orji and Ohuabunwa, who received 27,540 and 15,175 votes, respectively. This result was announced by INEC.
