The Minister of Niger Delta, Goodwill Akpabio’s hope of returning to the red chamber has suffered a setback with the National and State House of Assembly Election Tribunal upholding the victory of Senator Christopher Ekpenyong as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the February 23 elections.
Akpabio, had challenged the results on the ground that the election that produced Ekpeyong as the winner was invalid “owing to non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
The court however dismissed all the preliminary objections filed by Akpabio saying he failed to prove by admissible evidence that the election was invalid.
The Tribunal further held that Akpabio failed to bring any witness from the polling units and thus could not prove substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
Akpabio, who was Governor of Akwa-Ibom State for 8 years lost to Ekpenyong, who was Former Deputy Governor of the State with 35,057 votes.
Before defecting to the APC, Akpabio, was the former Senate minority leader under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He was made minister of Niger-Delta by President Muhammadu Buhari in August, 2019.