The Rivers state elections petition tribunal on Wednesday, sacked PDP’s George Thompson Sekibo, Senator representing Rivers East and declared Andrew Uchendu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), winner of the senatorial election.
The Tribunal also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Sekibo and issue a fresh certificate of return to Mr Uchendu.
The Tribunal’s decision was hinged on the fact that Uchendu won the lawful majority vote cast during the Rivers re-run legislative election held on December 10.
The Tribunal ruled that there was substantial non compliance with the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines in the initial declaration of Sekibo as winner of the election.
Uchendu had approached the tribunal with a petition asking the court to declare him winner of the poll, alleging that INEC failed to take into cognisance the results of some wards and polling units before declaring Sekibo the winner of the polls.
The APC candidate was a long-serving member of the House of Representatives from 2003 to 2015. He was initially elected into the National Assembly on the platform of the PDP before decamping to APC in 2014 in the run-up to the general elections.
