Ngozi Okolie, the House of Representatives member for Aniocha-Oshimili Federal Constituency, has criticized the recent court ruling that declared his election null and void as “unlawful.”
The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Asaba, Delta State, annulled his victory, stating that he was not properly sponsored by the Labour Party. Okolie expressed confusion and disbelief over the court’s decision, asserting that it lacked legal justification.
According to him, “They annulled the election based on very frivolous reasons that nobody can comprehend for now. So I have decided to go on appeal just to at least try and strengthen democracy in our time. Hopefully, we get an appeal, the judges will either interpret the law differently or uphold what they said.
“What they insinuated cannot be true. PDP is a funny party. When I declared for Labour Party, I honestly didn’t want to resign but out of their hatred and jealousy they stopped my payment and removed my name from the payroll, they did it themselves. So I actually waited for my August salary but I didn’t see it.
“So I now called the paymaster, and he said they have instructed him to remove my name from the payroll, I said okay, and that was how I went to tender my resignation. They have a witness that came down and testified that they removed me from their payroll.
“I’m not a public servant, so I don’t know which law they used to judge. It’s appalling. I thought our justice system was blind, but now it wears a dark goggle with a deep pocket in its side”.
