The Court of Appeal in Abuja, has voided the judgment of the National Assembly and State House of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Bayelsa State, which nullified the election of Fred Agbedi, the member representing Sagbama/Ekeremor Federal Constituency in the National Assembly ( NASS)
Delivering the judgement on Saturday,a three-member panel headed by Justice Muhammed Shaibu dismissed the petition filed by Michael Olumu the candidate of the All Progressives Congress APC and upheld the election of Agbedi who contested the election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP.
The panel of Justices which includes Justice Habeeb Abiru and Justice Abdul-Azeez Waziri, dismissed the case for lacking merit.
In arriving at the decision, the panel considered cross-appeals filed before it by Agbedi and Olomu, respectively, following the tribunal’s ruling on September 7 which set aside Agbedi’s victory.
The tribunal also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to withdraw his certificate of return and conduct supplementary polls within 90 days in 17 polling units of wards 10, 11 and 12 of Ekeremor LGA; and six polling units of ward 11 and all the polling units in ward 5 of Sagbama LGA.
Agbedi is one of the ranked members of the House of Representatives having been elected by his constituents to represent them for more than 4 terms.
His legislative business in the green chamber began during the 3rd Assembly in the Third Republic in 1992 where he represented Ekeremor Federal Constituency in the Old Rivers State.
