A member of the House of Representatives, Amobi Godwin Ogah, has petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), alleging that the Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, forged and tendered fake election result sheets during proceedings at the 2023 Election Petition Tribunal.
Ogah, who represents Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency of Abia State, alleged that Onyejeocha presented 63 polling unit results that were not issued or certified by INEC, in an attempt to overturn his electoral victory.
In the petition dated April 14, 2024, but acknowledged by INEC headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, Ogah accused the minister of procuring a different set of result sheets which bore INEC’s certification stamp but were unknown to both the state and national offices of the electoral body.
But reacting, the minister dismissed the allegations as false and a distraction.
Speaking to The Guardian through a media aide, the Minister said Oga has a court case that has to deal with defamation scheduled for hearing tomorrow (Wednesday).
Onyejeocha said the lawmaker may likely be indicted, adding that his petition was a deliberate strategy to divert attention from his legal troubles.
“All the allegations in the petition are false. They are not only false but also it has been trashed out long ago. Ogah has a defamation case coming up tomorrow. He defamed a judge. He accused the judge of collecting bribes from the Minister during the Tribunal.
“He doesn’t have anything because the court may likely indict him. So what he’s trying to do is just to play this media propaganda. He’s just trying to play propaganda to distract attention from what is really going on”, the minister said.
INEC had declared Ogah winner of the February 25, 2023 National Assembly election in the constituency with 11,822 votes. Onyejeocha, who also contested the seat and scored 8752 challenged the outcome at the tribunal but lost at both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal.
Ogah who is the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria in the petition sighted by The Guardian said he would submit certified copies of the original and disputed results, as well as court judgments, to aid INEC’s investigation.
The petition read in part: “I am constrained to write you in respect of the above referenced matter, in a bid to make my contribution to the ongoing efforts at sanitizing our electoral system, and, curtailing to the barest minimum all forms of criminality in our country.
“Though time does not run against a complaint against a crime, I am presenting this petition a bit late, due to the fact that I needed to gather all the relevant materials and information relevant to the successful presentation, investigation and prosecution of this complaint.
“At the close of the elections, I was declared winner and a Certificate of Return issued to me by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Hon. Onyejeocha proceeded to the Election Tribunal in Umuahia, Abia State to challenge the outcome of the election, seeking that she be returned as the winner of the election.
“Your office had at the close of the elections issued certified copies of the Polling Units, Wards, LGAs and the Constituency results relating to our said Isuikwuato/Umunnecochi Federal Constituency election, including copies downloaded from the | – REV Portal.”
