Tribunal affirms Peter Mbah as Enugu governor

The Enugu state governorship election petition tribunal has affirmed Peter Mbah as the duly elected governor of the state.

Delivering judgment on Thursday, a three-member panel of the tribunal led by Kudirat Akano, dismissed the petition filed by Chijioke Edeoga, candidate of the Labour Party (LP).

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) the winner of the March 18 governorship election with 160,895 votes.

Edeoga of the LP came second with 157,552 votes, while Frank Nweke of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) polled 17, 983 votes to claim third place.

Edeoga and his party had approached the tribunal to disqualify Mbah and declare him the winner of the election, while claiming to have polled the highest valid votes cast.

The petitioners also challenged the candidacy of the governor over an alleged forgery of a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate.

Delivering the judgment, the tribunal held that Edeoga and his party failed to prove their case.

The court held that Mbah met the minimum requirements for the election which is a school certificate or its equivalent.

The tribunal rejected Edeoga’s witnesses, adding that the petitioners did not present any admissible evidence to prove that Mbah’s certificate was forged.

“NYSC discharge certificate is not a qualification for governorship,” the tribunal ruled.

“Assuming that the NYSC discharge certificate of the second respondent as claimed by the petitioners was forged, is the NYSC certificate a qualification to contest for governor in Nigeria according to the constitution? The answer is no.”

Earlier, the tribunal also dismissed the petition of Chris Agu, candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), on the same grounds.

On June 20, the tribunal dismissed the case of Uche Nnaji, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the grounds that his petition was not filed in compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.