The election of Peter Mbah as the governor of Enugu State has been confirmed by the State and National Assembly Appeal Court located in Lagos.
In a unanimous ruling, the Appellate Court rejected three of the opposing party’s arguments.
The three-person panel, chaired by Justice Tani Yusuf-Hassan, came to the conclusion that Mbah was not eligible to run for governor since the Labour Party (LP) and its candidate for governor had not produced enough proof.
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In her lead ruling, Justice Hassan addressed the claim of excessive voting, noting that the lower tribunal had not seen the “Voters’ Register.”
She claimed that the appeal was inadmissible as a result of the voters’ register not being submitted.
The Labour Party’s witnesses did not provide enough evidence to the court to support their claim that there was excessive voting in the gubernatorial race.
As a result, the appeal rejected the case on the grounds that it lacked substance, upholding the election tribunal’s decision to declare Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) the victor of the March 18 governorship race.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced that Gov. Mbah had received 160,895 votes, making him the victor of the March 18 governorship election, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
With 157,552 votes, Edeoga of the LP finished in second place, and Frank Nweke of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) finished in third place with 17, 983 votes.
Disappointed with the outcome, Edeoga and his party submitted a petition contesting Mbah’s triumph and demanding to be recognised as the winners since they had the most legitimate votes.
Concerns regarding Mbah’s purported falsification of a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate were also voiced by the petitioners.
The Enugu State governorship election petition tribunal, however, decided in Mbah’s favour, finding that he complied with the election’s minimal qualifications, which included having a high school diploma or its equivalent.
The petitioner failed to provide any admissible evidence to support the claim that Mbah’s certificate was faked, according to the tribunal, which also dismissed Edeoga’s witnesses.
