The Court Of Appeal has fixed November 10 to rule on the appeal lodged by the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Chijoke Edeoga against the judgement of the Tribunal that affirmed the electoral victory of governor Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Recall that Edeoga had approached the Tribunal to challenge the electoral victory of governor Peter Mbah on the grounds that he wasn’t qualified to stand for the election, forged his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate and cases of over-voting in Udenu, Nkanu East and Enugu East local government areas.
Though, the Tribunal headed by Justice Kudirat Murayo Akano dismissed all grounds of petition.
The panel held that NYSC is not a requirement for contesting the office of the governor and that there is no where that the NYSC Certificate was attached to the documents Mbah submitted to INEC by the respondent.
On the issue of forging NYSC Certificate, the panel struck out all the evidences by the DSS, NYSC official and others because they were not in tandem with paragraph 4, subsection 5D of the evidence act. Only the witness of the pw26 which was described as a hearsay by the panel.
Also, on the issue of wrong computation of results of the Labour Party in Udenu local government area, the panel said the petitioners failed to prove this case and the witnesses they called gave the same report for different polling units and wards and wondered why their testimonies are the same even from different locations.
The panel also said that the witnesses presented by the Labour Party were not duly accredited agents by INEC and makes their testimony invalid.
The panel based on the witnesses from the right agents in 3 polling units, deducted 51 votes from PDP and added same to Labour Party.
The tribunal held that the deduction isn’t enough to Overturn the election of Mbah
In Amagu polling unit in Nkanu East the panel cancelled the votes for all parties because the witness pw10 proved he was there and the right person.
In the remaining 11 polling units, the Tribunal held that the witnesses did not sign the result sheet and their witnesses is discountenanced because they cannot prove they were party agents.
After resolving all the matter, the Tribunal dismissed the petition for lacking in merit.
