The Labour Party and its candidate in the March 18 governorship election in Enugu State on Friday rejected the judgment of the election petition tribunal which upheld the victory of Peter Mbah as the Governor of the state, News About Nigeria reports.
The LP and its candidate’s resolve to appeal the tribunal’s judgement was disclosed by Chijioke Edeoga’s spokesperson, George Ugwu in a statement.
The statement reads in part: “We wish to convey the acknowledgement by the Labour Party and its candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, of the judgment as delivered at the tribunal, and to state our preparedness to challenge the outcome of this judgment at the Court of Appeal and to all extents as permitted by law.”
The Enugu State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, in their judgement on Thursday, dismissed the petition filed by the LP and its candidate, Edeoga, to challenge the victory of Governor Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party in the March 18 governorship election in the state.
The three-man panel led by Justice Kudirat Akano, discarded the LP’s petition against Mbah, noting that it is incompetent and lacks merit.
One of the major grounds of the LP’s petition was the allegation that Mbah forged his National Youth Service Corps discharge certificate. But the tribunal resolved the issue in Mbah’s favour.
According to the judgement, “the NYSC certificate is not a qualification for anyone who wants to run for the office of the governor of the state as enshrined under Section 177 of the 1999 constitution. The academic qualifications required of any governorship candidate, as captured under Section 177 (d), is a school certificate, which has been interpreted under Section 318 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The NYSC discharge certificate is not a qualification as captured under the aforementioned section of the constitution and, therefore, cannot disqualify any person who has met the constitutional requirements and has been duly elected into the office of the governor of a state,” the tribunal held.
The tribunal also dismissed the LP’s contention that Mbah did not win a majority of valid votes at the poll.
