The Supreme Court has confirmed Peter Mbah as the Governor of Enugu State. Mbah, who contested under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), emerged victorious in the governorship election that took place on March 18. The Labour Party (LP) and its candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, had filed an appeal to challenge the election result, but the five-man panel of Justices at the apex court unanimously dismissed the appeal, affirming Mbah’s victory.
The verdict was based on the findings that there was no reason to challenge the concurrent verdicts of the Enugu State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, Lagos. Both had previously dismissed the LP’s allegations against Mbah’s election victory.
The Court of Appeal in Lagos had earlier upheld Mbah’s election on November 10, dismissing the three issues raised by the LP and its candidate, Edeoga. The appellate court found that the appellants failed to establish their allegations that Mbah was not qualified to contest the gubernatorial poll. The court also noted that the appellants failed to tender the voters register that was used for the election, which was necessary to prove their claim of widespread over-voting in Mbah’s strongholds.
Dissatisfied with the verdict of the appellate court, Edeoga took the matter to the Supreme Court, but he lost again on Friday. INEC had earlier declared Mbah as the winner of the gubernatorial contest after he polled a total of 160,895 votes, while Edeoga polled 157,552 votes, and Frank Nweke of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) came third with 17,983 votes.
The LP and its candidate alleged that Mbah was ineligible to contest the election, claiming that he submitted a forged National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate to INEC in aid of his qualification. The Justice K.M. Akano-led tribunal, however, dismissed the allegation and held that Mbah met the minimum requirements for the election, which included possessing a school certificate or its equivalent. The tribunal also rejected the testimony of some of the witnesses that testified in the matter, stressing that their statements on oath were not filed alongside the petition.