Pat Asadu, a medical doctor, has been in the House of Representatives since 2007.

The ambition of Pat Asadu representing Nsukka/Igboeze South Federal constituency of Enugu State to return to the House of Representative in 2023, for the fifth time, suffered a setback on Sunday.

He was beaten to the third place at the Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP) primary election held at Nsukka.

Vita Abba emerged as the winner having polled 91 votes out of the 111 votes cast at the election.

The runner up, Clinton Isiwu, scored 11 votes while Mr Asadu got two votes. Chidi Obetta, Aniegbulam Ezeugwu and Chukuemeka Asogwa got one vote each.

Announcing the result, the Returning Officer, Chinedu Onu, thanked delegates for conducting themselves in an orderly manner at the primary election.

Mr Onu said all the 111 delegates accredited for the primary election, voted, but four of the votes were invalidated.

In his acceptance remark, Mr Abba expressed appreciation to the delegates for voting for him and promised that he would not disappoint the party if elected at the 2023 general elections.

"This victory is victory for PDP; victory for justice and victory for democracy in our constituency.

"I thank all delegates and the party for finding me worthy to fly the party's flag in 2023," Mr Abba said.

Bradan Uzoagba, who led the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) team to monitor the primary election, described the exercise as free and fair.

Mr Isiwu who placed second said he accepted the result in good faith as the election was free and fair.