The Supreme Court, on Friday, upheld the election of Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State.
The apex court, in a unanimous decision by a five-man panel of Justices, 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.
According to the apex court, 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 the appellants raised about the election victory of Governor Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
It resolved all the issues that were raised in the appeal, against the LP and Edeoga.
Recall that the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal had on November 10, upheld Governor Mbah’s election, after it dismissed three issues that the LP and its candidate, Edeoga, raised against him.
In a unanimous judgement, a three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Tani Yusuf-Hassan, held that Edeoga and his party failed to establish their allegation that Governor Mbah was not qualified to contest the gubernatorial poll.
The court noted that though the appellants alleged that there was widespread over-voting within Mbah’s strongholds, they, however, failed to tender the voters register that was used for the election, to prove the allegation.
It was the position of the appellate court that the LP and its candidate failed to adduce sufficient reasons to warrant the setting aside of the earlier verdict of the Enugu State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which dismissed their case.
It accordingly dismissed the appeal as lacking in merit and affirmed Mbah as the valid winner of the governorship election.
Dissatisfied with the judgement of the appellate court, Edeoga took the matter before the Supreme Court, where he also lost today.
