Enugu Polls: Labour Party Breaks Silence After Tribunal Affirms Gov Mbah’s Victory

• The candidate of the Labour Party in Enugu State, Chijioke Edeoga, has declared his intention to appeal the election tribunal's verdict
• He made this decision shortly after the Labour Party rejected the outcome of the tribunal's judgment
• The tribunal had ruled out the petition of the Labour Party candidate because his claims were not enough proof to sack the respondent

The Labour Party has reacted to the judgement of the Enugu State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal affirming Governor Peter Mbah's victory at the February March 18 gubernatorial polls.

As reported by the Premium Times, the Labour Party rejected the verdict of Justice Kudirat Akano-led election petition court.

On Thursday, September 21, the tribunal dismissed the petition of the Labour Party gubernatorial candidate, Chijioke Edeoga.

Why Enugu tribunal dismissed Labour Party's petition

According to the tribunal's judgment, the Labour Party candidate failed to prove his forgery allegations against Governor Mbah's NYSC certificate.

Read also

Enugu Tribunal Judgement: LP guber candidate's campaign organisation reveals next step after defeat

The judgement also held that the NYSC certificate was not a requirement for him to contest after tendering other valid documents required to qualify him as a legitimate candidate of the PDP as stipulated in Sections 177 and 138 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.

Reacting to the judgment, the Labour Party chairman of the Enugu chapter, Casimir Agbo, said:

“The tribunal, in its wisdom, erred in both facts and law when they ruled that Peter Mbah’s forged NYSC certificate is not a requirement to contest for governorship election in the state."

Agbo also noted that Section 182 (1) (j) backs the non-qualification of a candidate who tenders a falsified certificate.

He said:

“They did not even tell us if the NYSC certificate was forged or not. They only ruled that the witness of the NYSC did not upload his written statement on oath,” he said.

Read also

Tribunal judgement: “Victory for democracy”, Governor Mbah reveals crucial plan for Ndi Enugu

“We are going over to the Appeal Court on this matter.”

Meanwhile, in a statement issued on the same day of the judgment, the camp of the Labour Party's governorship candidate revealed that they would be appealing the tribunal's verdict.

DSS gives crucial testimony in court over Gov Mbah’s alleged NYSC certificate forgery case

Meanwhile, the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) has been taunted and called out for being complacent in discharging their duties.

This was contained in the report tendered in court by the Department of State Security (DSS) witness in the ongoing governorship election tribunal in Enugu State.

The DSS says its investigation confirmed that Governor Peter Mbah's NYSC certificate is authentic, but NYSC's poor record-keeping caused controversies.

Source: Legit.ng