Frank Nweke Jr. withdraws petition against Peter Mbah as LP closes case at tribunal

Frank Nweke, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) governorship candidate in Enugu, has withdrawn his petition against Peter Mbah, governor of the state. 

Nweke, who came third in the March 18 guber election in the state, had challenged Mbah’s victory at the Enugu governorship election petition tribunal.

In March, the APGA guber candidate said he was “grossly disappointed by the institutions of state that we hoped would do better”.

But on Sunday, he withdrew his petition in an oral application through, R.A.C.E Achara, his counsel.  Achara said the petition filed on April 11 was withdrawn “to reduce the workload of the tribunal”.

The development comes as the Labour Party (LP) also closed its case at the tribunal after presenting its remaining witnesses.

During the session, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) insisted that the election was “free, fair, and credible”.

Chukwuemeka Chukwu, the state resident electoral commissioner (REC), presented some Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines used during the election.

Addressing journalists at the end of the sitting, Alex Iziyon, counsel to Mbah, said: “What happened in court today is that the petitioners brought in their remaining witnesses and the court also asked INEC to bring some BVAS machines, which were brought and tendered.

“We also asked REC what transpired during the election and he confirmed that everything went well peacefully and things were in order.

“The five BVAS, which were indicated were brought, but they were over 4,000 BVAS machines in polling units in Enugu state and that was it and the Labour Party closed their case.”