The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Asaba has declared the February 25th election for the Delta Central senatorial district inconclusive. The tribunal, consisting of three members, led by Justice W.I. Kpochi, has ordered a re-run in 48 units spread across four out of the eight local government areas within the district. Additionally, the tribunal ruled that the Certificate of Return initially issued to Senator Ede Dafinone of the All Progressive Congress (APC) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be set aside.
The election was contested by Ighoyota Amori, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who approached the tribunal seeking either a declaration of victory or, alternatively, a re-run in the four contentious council areas.
This decision follows a similar ruling by the tribunal last week, which declared the election for Delta South inconclusive and directed INEC to conduct a supplementary election for Warri South Local Government Area of the district within 90 days.
On another note, the tribunal upheld the election of Benedict Etanabene of the Labour Party as a member representing the Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie federal constituency. The tribunal dismissed the petition filed by the candidate of the PDP, Evelyn Oboro, on the grounds of lacking merit. Oboro had sought to disqualify Etanabene, claiming that he did not properly resign from his teaching position at the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun. INEC had previously declared Etanabene the winner, with 37,107 votes, while Oboro received 29,917 votes in the election.