The National/State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Asaba, the Delta State capital, has fired Rep. Francis Waive from the House of Representatives.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Waive is the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 25 House of Representatives election held for the Ughelli North/South/Udu federal constituency.
The tribunal, meanwhile, declared the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Solomon Ahwinahwi as the winner of the election.
Reacting, Waive put the blame on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), saying the tribunal sacked him for the failure of the electoral umpire to publish his educational qualifications on its portal.
In a statement following the judgement of the tribunal stressed that he submitted all required documents, including his qualifications as required by INEC.
The statement reads: “Today the 11th of Sept 2023, the National Assembly Elections Tribunal Asaba ruled (in layman’s language) that the non-publication of my educational qualifications in the INEC portal is grounds to disqualify me and declare the loser of the election the winner.
“Let me state clearly as I did before the tribunal with documented evidence that I did submit all required documents including my qualifications as required by INEC.
“The non-publication of same on the INEC portal is definitely not my making or within my power to effect. And I did write INEC on this. Very importantly, however, the non-publication by INEC is not known to our laws as a ground for disqualification of a candidate.
“Consequently, I have instructed my lawyers to appeal the judgement. I call on our people to remain calm and law-abiding as we continue in the struggle to make our country a better place to live in”.