The Enugu State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Thursday dismissed the petitions of Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party and that of Chris Agu of the People’s Redemption Party, PRP, against the Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah.
News About Nigeria reports that the tribunal, therefore, affirmed the election of Mbah as the governor of the state.
The petitioners challenged the declaration of Mbah by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as the winner of the March 18, 2023 governorship election in the state.
In their petitions to the tribunal, they alleged that Mbah was not qualified to contest the election because he presented a forged National Youth Service Corps, NYSC certificate to INEC.
Edeoga and the Labour Party who prayed the court to nullify Mbah’s election and declare him winner claimed that there were cases of over-voting in Udenu, Nkanu East and Enugu East local government areas.
However, the tribunal in its ruling, by a 3-member Tribunal headed by Justice Kudirat Murayo Akano dismissed all allegations and affirmed Mbah’s election.
The Court in their ruling on the alleged NYSC certificate forgery, said that NYSC certificate is a requirement for contesting for the office of the Governor of a state but there is nowhere that the NYSC certificate was attached to the documents Mbah submitted to INEC to contest the election.
The tribunal, therefore, discarded all the evidences by the DSS, NYSC official and others, saying they were not in compliance with paragraph 4, subsection 5D of the Evidence Act.
The tribunal also dismissed the allegation of over-voting and bypassing of BVAS.
The Court also ruled that the witnesses called by Labour Party were not duly accredited agents by INEC which it said made their testimony invalid.
Having resolved all the issues at stake in favour of Peter Mbah, the tribunal declared that he was duly elected as governor by the majority of lawful and valid votes cast during the election.
In response to their ruling, Edeoga rejected the tribunal’s decision, declaring that he would challenge it at the higher courts.
He also called on his supporters and Labour Party members in the state to remain calm.
