The Enugu State governorship election petition tribunal has upheld the election of Peter Mbah as the rightful governor of the state.
In a judgment delivered on Thursday, a three-member panel of the tribunal, headed by Kudirat Akano, dismissed the petition filed by Chijioke Edeoga, the LP candidate.
INEC had declared Peter Mbah of the PDP as the winner of the March 18 governorship election with 160,895 votes.
Chijioke Edeoga of the LP came in second with 157,552 votes. Frank Nweke of APGA secured 17,983 votes to claim third place.
Edeoga and his party had filed a petition challenging Mbah’s victory. They sought to disqualify him while claiming to have received the highest valid votes.
The petitioners also alleged that the governor had forged a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate.
However, the tribunal ruled that Edeoga and his party failed to substantiate their case.
The court held that Mbah met the minimum requirements for the election, which is a school certificate or its equivalent.
The tribunal also rejected Edeoga’s witnesses. It stated that the petitioners did not provide any admissible evidence to support their claim that Mbah’s certificate was forged.
The tribunal ruled:
“NYSC discharge certificate is not a qualification for governorship”.
“Assuming that the NYSC discharge certificate of the second respondent as claimed by the petitioners was forged, is the NYSC certificate a qualification to contest for governor in Nigeria according to the constitution? The answer is no.”
Previously, the tribunal also rejected the petition from Chris Agu citing similar reasons. Agu ran as the candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).
On June 20, the tribunal dismissed Uche Nnaji’s case, the candidate of the APC, stating that his petition did not adhere to the Electoral Act’s provisions.