22nd December, 2023
The Supreme Court has on Friday, validated the election of Peter Mbah of as the Governor of Enugu state.
Delivering the lead judgement, Justice Mohammed Garba the statement that Mbah did not posses the National Youth Service Corp certificate, was a mere allegation.
The apex court resolved all the issues raised in the appeal against the appellant.
The appellant, Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party, had dragged INEC and Mbah before the court to challenge the decision of the Court of Appeal which dismissed his case against the election of the governor.
The Lagos Division of the Appeal Court in its unanimous decision, resolved all three issues argued against the appellant, Edeoga.
The three-member panel presided over by Justice Tani Hassan held that the appellant failed to prove that the respondent was not qualified to contest the governorship election.
On the allegation of over voting, Hassan, in her lead judgment, held that the voters’ register was never placed before the lower tribunal, stressing that failure to tender the voter’s register before the lower tribunal rendered the appeal inadmissible.
The court also held that the testimony of all the witnesses presented by the appellant did not prove that there was over-voting in the governorship election.
Consequently, the court dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit and affirmed the judgment of the election tribunal which upheld the election of Mbah of the PDP as governor in the March 18 election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Mbah of the PDP as the winner of the March 18, 2023 election.
(NAN