The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the election of Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the governor of Enugu State.
A five-man panel of Justices, led by Justice Mohammed Garba, affirmed Mbah’s election.
The panel dismissed an appeal that the Labour Party (LP) and its candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, filed to challenge the outcome of the governorship election that held in the state on March 18, 2023.
It found no reason to dislodge the concurrent verdicts of the Enugu State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal in Lagos, which dismissed all the allegations raised against the election victory of governor Mbah.
On November 10, 2023, the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal upheld Mbah’s election, after it dismissed three issues that the LP and its candidate, Edeoga, raised against him.
A three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Tani Yusuf-Hassan, in a unanimous decision, held that Edeoga and his party failed to establish their allegation that Governor Mbah was not qualified to contest the gubernatorial poll.
It noted that though the appellants alleged that there was widespread over-voting within Mbah’s strongholds, they, however, could not present the voters register that was used for the election, to prove the allegation.
Also, It was the position of the appellate court that the LP and its candidate failed to present sufficient reasons to warrant the setting aside of the earlier verdict of the Enugu State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which threw out their their case. (Guardian)