Appeal Court sacks senate minority whip, declares PDP’s Akobundu as Abia central senator

The court of appeal sitting in Lagos has sacked Darlington Nwokocha of the Labour Party (LP) as senator representing Abia central.

The appeal 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 as the winner of the election with a total of 92,116 votes. Akobundu came second with 41,477 votes.

Dissatisfied with the result, Akobundu, a former minister of state for defence, filed a petition before the election petition tribunal to upturn Nwokocha’s election.

His appeal was, however, rejected by the tribunal in September.

Unfazed by the ruling, Akobundu, who was a former organising secretary of the PDP, went to the appellate court.

On Saturday, he was declared the winner of the Abia central senatorial district election.

In a statement, the 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.”