Hon. Frank Chinasa, the candidate of the Labour Party for the Bende Federal Constituency election, Abia State, has finally surrendered the seat to the Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Benjamin Kalu.
The LP candidate, while making this known to reporters in Abuja on Friday, said the decision followed his compassion for the constituency.
Media Talk Africa reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared Kalu of the All Progressives Congress, APC winner of the February 25 election after garnering 10,020 out of the 22,308 total votes.
Not satisfied with the outcome of the election, the LP candidate subsequently approached the National Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal in Umuahia, the Abia State capital with the aim to upturn Kalu’s victory.
However, ruling on the matter, the tribunal last week upheld the declaration of the Deputy Speaker as the winner of the February poll.
Although there were insinuations that the Labour Party flagbearer may approach the court of appeal in a bid to set aside the ruling of the tribunal, but Chinasa told journalists on Friday that he has decided to end any further lawsuits, pledging allegiance to Kalu.
According to him, the Deputy Speaker posses the same objective of good representation of the people of Bende, stressing that Kalu remains his brother and and friend.
He said: “I am here to inform the world that I am no longer interested in taking the matter any further beyond the tribunal. This simply means that I have decided to let go of the case.
“Kalu and I have a history that has run into decades which cannot be ruined by the transient political activities of today. First, we are brothers from Bende.
“We are also good friends and we intrinsically share the same objective of good representation of our people”.
