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Senator Godswill Akpabio who is the President of the Nigerian Senate, on Wednesday swore in Col. Augustine Akobundo (retd.) as the senator representing Abia Central on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The Senate President had on Wednesday directed the Clerk to the Senate, Chinedu Akubueze, to administer the oaths of Office and Allegiance on Akobundu before he was led to take his seat.
Akobundu replaced Senator Darlington Nwokocha of the Labour Party (LP) who was the Minority Whip before he was sacked by the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, on the 4th of November.
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The Eastern Updates recalls that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Nwokocha as the winner of the 25th of February National Assembly poll in Abia Central with a total of 92,116 votes, while Akobundu came second with 41,477 votes.
Dissatisfied with the result, Akobundu, a former Minister of State for Defence, filed a petition before the election petitions tribunal to upturn Nwokocha’s election.
His appeal was rejected by the tribunal in September.
Undeterred by the ruling, Akobundu, who was PDP’s Organising Secretary, approached the appellate court to further seek redress.
Akobundu and Osita Ngwu of Enugu West are the two PDP senators from the Southeast in the National Assembly.
Meanwhile, protests had rocked Umuahia, the Abia State capital as members of the ruling Labour Party, marched through major streets to register their displeasure over the sack of the Senate Minority Whip and Senator representing Abia Central, Senator Darlington Nwokocha (LP).
The protesters, led by the Deputy Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Austin Meregini, vehemently rejected the judgment, and called for its review.
They also required that every member of the panel that rendered the decision be thoroughly investigated.
