Judgment in two separate appeals instituted by Mrs Stella Oduah, and her party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), questioning the victory of Tony Nwoye of the Labour Party (LP) in the February 25, Anambra North Senatorial District election has been reserved by the State and National Assembly Appeal Court, Lagos.
The three-man panel of the Court of Appeal arrived at the decision after entertaining arguments from counsel to all the parties.
It would be recalled that the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Awka, Anambra State, in its judgment delivered on September 6, 2023, threw out Odua’s petition challenging the victory of Nwoye in the 25 February senatorial election.
But not satisfied, Mrs Oduah and the PDP in two separate appeals marked, CA/AW/EP/SEN/AN/03/2023 and CA/AW/EP/SEN/AN/04/2023 challenged Nwoye’s election as a senator representing Anambra North District.
In the said election, Nwoye had polled 94,779 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Oduah who scored 50,146 votes, according to the result of the election declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
In its unanimous decision, the tribunal dismissed Mrs Oduah’s petition and that of the PDP for lack of merit and affirmed the election of Nwoye.
While the election lasted, Oduah, a former aviation minister, lost in all the seven local government areas of Anambra North Senatorial District, namely Onitsha North, Onitsha South, Oyi, Ogbaru, Anambra East, Anambra West and Ayamelum.
The troubled Oduah was first elected in 2015 on the platform of the PDP and has spent eight years in the Senate.
She was re-elected to the Senate in 2019. In August 2021, Mrs Oduah defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, from the PDP following a crisis in the APC.
Oduah rejoined the PDP in April 2022, about eight months later, saying she had returned to where she was “highly regarded”.