The Court of Appeal in Abuja, has upheld the election of Honourable Ngozi Okolie, representing Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency of Delta State.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had declared Okolie winner of the February 25th National Assembly Election for Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency of Delta State, after he polled 53,879 votes to defeat his closest rival and then incumbent representative, Ndudi Elumelu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 33,456 votes.

But the tribunal sacked Okolie on the grounds that the politician was not duly nominated by the Labour Party.

However, in its decision on Thursday, the appeal court overruled the tribunal.

The Court in a judgment delivered by Justice M.L Shuaibu, upturned the the verdict of the Asaba tribunal on National Assembly/State Houses of Assembly elections in the state.

It held that the LP candidate was validly nominated and sponsored contrary to the findings of the lower court.

The court upheld the argument of Mahmud Magaji (SAN), counsel to the LP, that contrary to the tribunal’s verdict, Okolie was duly nominated and sponsored by his party.

It held that the LP chieftain resigned his appointment as a Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Delta state government in line with the new  Electoral Act 2022.