The National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal held at the Tafawa Balewa Square, TBS, Lagos State has ordered for a rerun of the election at the Eti-Osa Federal Constituency of the state.
This news is coming after the court cancelled the victory of Thaddeus Atta, the candidate of the Labour Party, LP.
The tribunal’s judgement had directed that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, must hold a second election in the 33 polling units where voting did not take place within 90 days. This order was given late Monday night, September 11.
On Tuesday morning, Atta had reacted to the verdict with a post on X, assuring his supporters that there was no cause for alarm and that the court had not “ejected” him.
He had posted:
“There is no cause for alarm! I am here to elucidate that I was not expelled. The Tribunal has simply directed for a re-run i.e supplementary election in the 32 polling units where elections had not taken place. We will keep working for Etiosa. To this effect, I urge the constituents to remain calm.”
Recall that Ibrahim Babajide Obanikoro (IBO), the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC and Bankole Wellington aka Banky W, the PDP candidate who came second in the polls, had both filed petitions to contest the February 25 constituency elections.
Labour Party’s Atta, who got 24,075 votes, was announced the winner of that election by INEC.