Governor Ndubuisi Mbah of Enugu State wins through a decisive technical knockout against Labour Party (LP) at the Supreme Court.
This third and final victory guarantees a four-year tenure for Mbah, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The governor immediately thanked the people for placing their trust in him, calling the court cases a “distraction.”
A 5-member panel of justices affirmed in a unanimous decision that Mbah indeed won the 18 March 2023 election.
Chief Chijioke Edeoga, Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate, doggedly opposed Mbah’s victory, from the election court to the apex court.
Both the Election Tribunal and the Court of Appeal dismissed Edeoga’s objections before he arrived at the Supreme Court.
LP lawyers alleged that Mbah forged NYSC certificate, didn’t score majority votes, and fabricated results in many polling booths.
The Supreme Court adopted the rulings of both the election and the appeal court in dismissing the LP petition.
The election court dismissed the allegation of forgery on the ground that NYSC certificate is not a qualifying document for anyone running for the office of governor. The lower court said it could not disqualify a candidate on the basis of a certificate that was not required to run for election.
“The academic qualifications required of any governorship candidate as captured under section 177 (d) is a school certificate …”
“NYSC discharged certificate … therefore, cannot disqualify any person who met the constitutional requirements…”
The Tribunal also discounted the testimonies of Labour’s star witnesses on over-voting because their lawyers did not file on time.
It also dismissed the allegation of over-voting because Labour could not prove its case through testimonies of accredited party agents.
On allegations of “manifest corruption, over-voting, and incorrect computation of the results,” the Tribunal dismissed the evidence because LP agents failed to sign the results sheets.
The alleged vote manipulations happened at Igbo Eze North, Udenu, Enugu East, and Nkanu East Local Government areas.
INEC’s final tally showed that Mbah won the election with 160, 844 over hard fighting Edeoga who scored 157,555 votes.
Mbah thanks Enugu people on Supreme Court victory
Shortly after Supreme Court affirmed his 18 March 2023 victory, Gov Mbah thanks Enugu State people for their trust.
Appeal Court affirms Mbah as Enugu governor
An Appeal court panel knocks off Labour Party’s arguments against Enugu governorship elections and affirms Peter Mbah as duly elected governor.
Election Court affirms Mbah’s declaration as governor
Enugu Governor, Ndubuisi Mbah, today prevailed over his political opponent Chijioke Edeoga as the governorship election appeal court affirmed his election,
More from Fred
Persecution of Igbo in Lagos
Columnist Fred Chukwuelozie says he has changed his mind about appears like a persecution of the Igbo in Lagos.
Extortion at ports of entry continues
Fred reflects on incidences of extortion at our ports of entry that shows how corruption has refused to go away.
Why are we mistreated this way?
Fred wonders why Nigerians are mistreated inside and outside their country, given last weekend’s Saudi visa treatment and the local polls.
Author
