The National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) Lagos , has nullified the election that placed Thaddeus Atta of the Labour Party as representative of the Eti Osa Federal Constituency of Lagos State.
The court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a supplementary election in 32 polling units of Eti-Osa within 90 days.
Confirming this, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Ibrahim Obanikoro, in a public statement, noted, "The February 25 election has just been rightly declared inconclusive and supplementary elections has been ordered by the court. INEC has been ordered to withdraw the return certificate issued and conduct elections in areas where election didn't hold on election day."
Reacting to the ruling on Tuesday, September 12, 2023, in a post on Twitter, Atta said there was no cause for alarm, noting that he was not sacked by the court.
“The tribunal has simply ordered a re-run (supplementary election) in the 32 polling units where elections did not hold. We will continue working for Eti Osa. I urge constituents to keep calm as we are unshaken. We will get through this together," he said.
Recall, that INEC had declared Atta the winner of the Eti-Osa Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives, an outcome that was met with resistance by some celebrity residents of Eti-Osa.
It's important to note that Atta won the election with 24,075 votes, beating his main opponents, Olubankole Wellington (Banky W) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who had 18,666 votes, and Obanikoro of the APC, who had 16,901.