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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has sacked Darlington Nwokocha of the Labour Party (LP) as the Senator representing Abia Central.
The court declared Augustine Akobundu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the February 25 national assembly election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Nwokocha winner of the election with a total of 92,116 votes. Akobundu came second with 41,477 votes.
Dissatisfied with the results announced by INEC, Akobundu, a former Minister of State for Defence, filed a petition before the State and National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Abia State.
His petition was, however, dismissed by the tribunal in September.
Unfazed by the ruling, Akobundu, who is a former organising secretary of the PDP, went to the appellate court.
On Saturday,a three-man panel of the appellate court declared Akobundu the winner of the Abia Central Senatorial District election.
In a statement Posted on his X account, PDP said Akobundu and Osita Ngwu of Enugu West “are the two senators of the PDP extractions from the South East region at the National Assembly.”