The Enugu State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Enugu has dismissed the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate forgery suit brought by the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) against Governor Peter Mbah.
The three-man tribunal chaired by Justice Kudirat Akano, on Thursday, September 21, 2023, declared that there was no evidence before it to support the petitioners’ claim that a forged certificate was submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Chris Agu of the PRP and Chijioke Edeoga of the LP had separately filed suits against Mbah challenging his NYSC certificate on the ground of it being forged.
The petitioners had alleged, among others, that Mbah was not qualified to contest the election and was not lawfully elected.
However, the tribunal declared that section 177 of the 1999 Constitution is not a requirement for contesting a governorship election.
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The tribunal rejected Edeoga’s witnesses and ruled that the LP candidate did not present any admissible evidence to prove that Mbah’s certificate was forged.
On PRP’s petition, Justice Akano said the issue was not contained in the petitioner’s affidavit, saying to prove forgery, both the original and the supposedly forged certificate ought to have been exhibited before the tribunal.
The judge declared that the petitioner failed to prove that the respondent possessed the minimum requirements to stand for the election including school certificate or its equivalent.
Akano, therefore, said there was no evidence to substantiate the claims that Mbah was not qualified to stand for the election.
On the issue of the plea bargain by Mbah, the tribunal averred that the exhibit presented by the petitioners did not show any plea bargain by the respondent.
Justice Akano further ruled that Mbah was duly elected by the majority of votes cast at the election held on March 18.
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