JUST IN: THE TRIBUNAL CONFIRMS MBAH’S VICTORY IN THE ELECTION

Babatunji Wusu –

The Peoples Democratic Party PDP’s Peter Mbah was elected governor of Enugu State in the state’s March 18 governorship election, according to the Enugu State Governorship Election Tribunal.
The tribunal, which was presided over by Justice Kudirat Murayo Akano, also rejected the Edeoga/Labour Party’s claims of excessive voting and BVAS circumvention during the election.

According to the court, Mbah was legitimately elected governor by a majority of the legal and legitimate votes cast in the election.

The tribunal previously rejected Edeoga/LP’s claim that the NYSC discharge certificate for Governor Peter Mbah was fabricated.

It was decided that Mbah was already qualified to run for governor without submitting his NYSC certificate to INEC, hence there was no need for him to do so.

The tribunal also disregarded Edeoga’s witnesses and determined that the LP candidate for governor had failed to offer any admissible proof that Mbah’s certificate was a forgery.

The tribunal previously rejected Chris Agu’s appeal from the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) against Mbah about a fake National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate, the governor’s ineligibility, and corruption.

The petitioner’s assertion that an invalid NYSC certificate was presented to the INEC was found to be unfounded by the tribunal, which also noted that the matter was not covered by their affidavit.

The panel also decided that Mbah was not elected by a majority of votes cast against the petitioner, adding that the petitioner must present both the original and the counterfeit certificates in order to demonstrate the issue of fabrication.

The panel asserted that the petitioners’ witnesses were unable to identify the polling places where the elections were canceled or their outcomes.

There was no evidence to back up the assertion that Mbah was unable to run for office, the court further found, adding that the petitioner had failed to demonstrate that Mbah lacked the basic qualification to run for office, which is a school diploma or its equivalent.

Regarding Mbah’s plea agreement, the tribunal asserted that the materials provided by the petitioners did not demonstrate any such agreement by the respondent.

According to the court, Mbah provided evidence indicating that he was cleared of the accusations.