On Wednesday, the Enugu State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal reserved judgment on the petitions challenging the election of Governor Peter Mbah after parties in the matter adopted their written addresses.
Justice Akano, who presided over the panel and presided over the Tribunal’s resumed proceedings, reserved judgement on a date that he stated will be properly informed to the parties.
The Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) announcement that Peter Mbah of the People’s Democratic Party was duly elected governor in the State’s March 18 governorship elections is being contested by Chijioke Edeoga, the candidate for the Labour Party.
The second respondent (Peter Mbah), who was in court on Wednesday, was represented by his solicitors while the petitioners (Edeoga and the Labour Party) were there.
The petition names Dr Mbah and PDP as the second and third respondents, respectively, and INEC as the first respondent.
Peter Mbah’s lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, adopted his remarks and sought the court to dismiss the Labour Party’s petitions as being unjustified and only an academic exercise.
Similarly, Anthony Ani, SAN, the attorney for the Peoples Democratic Party, argued that the petitioners’ claim was nebulous and devoid of supporting data.
As part of his closing arguments, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, the main attorney for the Labour Party and its governorship candidate, pleaded with the tribunal to support his clients’ positions and provide the reliefs they had requested.
Because Mr Peter Mbah had submitted a fake certificate of national service to INEC, it has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that he was not legally eligible to run for office at the time of the election.
Among other grounds raised by the petitioner, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo cited the over-voting, non-use of BVAS, and the suspected forging of the NYSC certificate as reasons why the case should be determined in favour of his client (Edeoga).
