Follow Us on Google
By Lukman Olabiyi
The State and National Assembly Appeal Court, Lagos in its unanimous decision on Friday affirmed the election of Peter Ndubuisi Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the duly elected governor of Enugu State.
The Appellate Court resolved all the three issues raised by the appellant, Edeoga Chijioke Jonathan of the Labour Party (LP) in favour of Mba and his Party, (PDP).
The three-member panel presided over by Justice Tani Yusuf Hassan held that the appellant failed to prove that the respondent was not qualified to contest the governorship election.
On the allegation of over voting, the Justice Hassan in her lead judgement held that “Voters’ Register was never placed before the lower tribunal, stressing that failure to tender the voters register before the lower Tribunal rendered the appeal inadmissible.
The court held that the testimony of all the witnesses called by the appellant did not prove that there was over-voting in the governorship election.
Consequently, the court dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit and affirmed the judgement of the election tribunal, which declared Mbah of PDP as winner of March 18, governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Mbah of PDP as the winner of the March 18 governorship election with 160,895 votes.
Dissatisfied, Edeoga and his party approached the tribunal to disqualify Mbah and declare him the winner of the election, while claiming to have polled the highest valid votes cast.
In its judgement, the Enugu state governorship election petition tribunal affirmed Mbah as the duly elected governor of the state.
Meanwhile Governor Mbah, in his reaction, hailed the judgment, saying it was consistent with the mandate freely given to him by the people of Enugu State.
Mbah also described the verdict as victory for the people and transformation of the state in line with his manifesto, assuring that he would never fail the people.
He further said the judgment had put paid to falsehoods peddled to malign the people’s government.
“Let me also say this as a lawyer: this judgment reaffirms my belief and trust in the irrevocable will of the judiciary.
The governor commended the Justices of the Appeal Court, just as he thanked the people of the state for their endurance. He pledged to deploy more energy and commitment to bringing development at the doorsteps of people of the state.
“This is not a victory for Peter Mbah as a governor; it is victory for water that will run nonstop in Enugu city homes in less than 20 days from today. It is also a victory that would make the length and breadth of Enugu State a road construction site. It is also a victory that would ensure that we have smart schools across the 260 Wards of Enugu State.
“Let me assure Ndi Enugu that we are not going to let them down.”
