National election tribunal sitting in Enugu has affirmed the victory of Senator Kelvin Chukwu of the Labour party.

The tribunal struck out the petition filed by the former Governor of Enugu state, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, challenging Chukwu’s victory.

Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared Chukwu, who replaced his late brother murdered during the campaign ahead of the February 25, 2023, as the winner of the Enugu East Senatorial district election. He scored over 69,000 votes to defeat Chimaroke Nnamani who secured about 49,000 votes.

Dissatisfied with the result, Nnamani approached the tribunal and urged the tribunal to declare him the rightful winner of the election or cancel the election.

He alleged alleged that the election was marred by over-voting, irregularities, election malpractices and non-compliance with the electoral guidelines and

Ruling on the matter Wednesday, the tribunal comprising a three-man honourable Justices unanimously upheld Chukwu’s victory.

They dismissed Nnamni petition for being vague, lacking in merit, incompetent, generic and academic exercise

The panel led by Justice Nusirat I. Umar unani also awarded a cost of N500,000 against the petitioners in favour of the three respondents, Kelvin Chukwu, Labour Party and INEC.