Why Peter Mbah Remains Enugu State Gov. – Tribunal Gives Judgement | READ MORE

The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Enugu State, has affirmed governor Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the winner of the March 18 governorship election in the state.

The three-member panel of the tribunal led by Justice Kudirat Murayo while ruling on Thursday, dismissed the petitions of the Labour Party and its candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, insisting that they could not prove their case.

Dismissing the petitioners’ petition on Mbah’s alleged forgery of his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate, the tribunal ruled that “NYSC discharge certificate is not a qualification to contest a governorship election.”

“On NYSC certificate forgery; the absence of certified true copy of NYSC certificate made the submission of petitioner inadmissible.

“In no evidence of true documents by the petitioner the court agrees on the argument of the second respondent that the petitioner lack local standard to challenge the NYSC certificate of Peter Mbah in the court.

“On not being duly elected by the lawful majority vote, the witness could not present the evidence of what transpired on the puling unites mentioned, but presented evidence based on hear say” the tribunal ruled.

It queried also;

“Assuming that the NYSC discharge certificate of the second Respondent as claimed by the Petitioners was forged, is the NYSC Certificate a qualification to contest for Governor in Nigeria according to the constitution? The answer is no.”

“On the issue of plea bargain, the petitioner failed to provide the certified true copy and we concluded that the petitioner should prove the issue of plea bargain by presenting the true certified copy of the bargain” it added.