Dismiss Elumelu’s Petition Over Abandonment, LP’s Okolie Tells Tribunal

The member representing Aniocha/ Oshimili constituency of Delta State in the federal House of Representatives, Mr Ngozi Okolie of Labor party has urged the National and State Houses of Assembly Election Tribunal sitting in Asaba, to dismiss the petition filed against his victory at the May 18 gubernatorial election by the former minority leader of the house Hon. Ndudi Elumelu of the PDP.
At the formal adoption of written addresses of both parties and oral arguments canvassed by their respective counsel at the weekend, Hon Okolie argued that Hon Elumelu had abandoned the claims in his petition and as such should be dismissed.
Okolie, through his lead counsel, Chike Onyemenam, urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition on the ground that “the petitioners, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu and PDP abandoned their claims that Honourable Ngozi Okolie of the Labour Party (LP) won the election into the Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency by a landslide victory by defeating Honourable Ndudi Elumelu with more than Twenty Thousand Votes.

“The petitioners also abandoned their claims that the election was rigged or was invalid and that the tribunal should declare the election null and void and order INEC to conduct a fresh Election for Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency.”

Onyemenam prayed the tribunal to also dismiss the petition because “the only ground remaining in the petition is the claim by the petitioners that Hon. Ngozi Okolie was not qualified to contest the election for several reasons.

However, he further submitted that since none of the three witnesses called by the petitioners adopted a deposition or gave any oral evidence to say that Hon. Ngozi Okolie was not qualified to contest the election for any reason, the petition is deemed in law to have been abandoned.