Enugu: Supreme Court Affirms Mbah Duly Elected Governor, As He Pledges Fulfillment Of Electoral Promises

By Akinwale Kasali

Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has reiterated his commitment to fulfill his electoral promises following his victory at the Supreme Court on Friday.

In a unanimous decision a five-man panel of Justices, dismissed the appeal that the Labour Party and its candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, filed to challenge the outcome of the governorship election that held in the State on March 18.

According to the apex court, it found no reason to dislodge the concurrent verdicts of the Enugu State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal in Lagos, which dismissed all the allegations the appellants raised against the election victory of governor Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party.

It resolved all the issues that were raised in the appeal, against the LP and Edeoga.

It will be recalled that the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal had on November 10, upheld governor Mbah’s election, after it dismissed three issues that the LP and its candidate, Edeoga, raised against him.

In a unanimous judgement, a three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Tani Yusuf-Hassan, held that Edeoga and his party failed to establish their allegation that governor Mbah was not qualified to contest the gubernatorial poll.

The court noted that though the appellants alleged that there was widespread over-voting within Mbah’s strongholds, they, however, failed to tender the voters register that was used for the election, to prove the allegation.

It was the position of the appellate court that the LP and its candidate failed to adduce sufficient reasons to warrant the setting aside of the earlier verdict of the Enugu State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which dismissed their case.

It accordingly dismissed the appeal as lacking in merit and affirmed Mbah as the valid winner of the governorship election.

Dissatisfied with the judgement of the appellate court, Edeoga took the matter before the Supreme Court, where he also lost on Friday.

Governor Mbah, addressing the press shortly after the verdict told residents to hold him accountable if he doesn’t fulfill all his promises to them, as the judicial victory is a nudge for more work.

He said, “You haven’t seen anything yet. We are by this judgement recommitting ourselves to you again… This judicial affirmation is a nudge to continue to provide water to every nooks and cranny of Enugu state, to build schools for wards of our state, to sustain provision of security, to provide massive infrastructure and roads.

“We will indeed face a global challenge head long.

“Let me use this opportunity to reassure you that all our campaign promises will be fulfilled to the letter. Hold us to account. Hold your pens firmly and tick with us as we drill down into our election promises.

“Please continue to spare moments of prayer for us. With your prayers and support we will get to the promise land of the Enugu of our dreams.”