The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Enugu State ruled on Thursday that Governor Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was duly elected. This was despite a challenge to his election by Barr Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party (LP).
Edeoga’s petition alleged that Mbah had forged his National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) certificate and that there were irregularities during the election, including over-voting. However, the tribunal dismissed all of these allegations.
The tribunal held that the NYSC certificate is not a requirement for contesting the governorship election, and that Mbah did not submit his NYSC certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in order to qualify to run for office.
The tribunal also dismissed the allegations of over-voting and bypassing of the BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System). It said that the witnesses presented by the Labour Party were not duly accredited agents by INEC and that their testimony was invalid.
The tribunal concluded that Mbah was duly elected as governor by a majority of lawful and valid votes cast during the election.