On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that Peter Mbah, the governor of Enugu State, was legitimately elected.
The court rejected claims that Governor Mbah did not have the National Youth Service Corps certificate, which is a necessary document presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in a lead ruling written and delivered by Justice Mohammed Garba.
All of the arguments made in the appeal against Mbah’s victory were taken up by the court. The Supreme Court heard an appeal to the Court of Appeal’s ruling affirming Mbah’s election from the appellant, Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party.
In a unanimous ruling, the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal dismissed Edeoga’s appeal on each of the three grounds.
The three-person panel, led by Justice Tani Hassan, came to the conclusion that the appellant had not provided sufficient evidence to support Mbah’s ineligibility for the position of governor.
In her lead opinion, Justice Hassan addressed the claim of excessive voting, ruling that the voters’ register was never submitted to the subordinate tribunal. She clarified that the appeal was inadmissible due to this omission. The court also determined that there was no proof of over voting in the gubernatorial election from the appellant’s witness testimony.
Consequently, Mbah’s win as the PDP candidate in the election on March 18 was upheld by the electoral tribunal, and the Court of case dismissed the case as without merit. Mbah was proclaimed the victor of the above mentioned election by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
