Enugu: LP Seeks Justice In 2023 Guber Election

By Georgina Humphrey 

The Labour Party (LP) has called on the judiciary to ensure that justice prevails in the case of the Enugu State Governorship election involving its candidate Chijioke Edeoga and Governor Peter Mbah of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh, made the call at a news conference in Abuja.

Mr. Ifoh accused the tribunal of inconsistency in its judgment adding that the party is contesting the election at the appeal court on the grounds of over-voting and allegations of forged certificate of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) by Mbah.

The Enugu State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal had earlier dismissed LP’s petition against Mbah as incompetent and lacking in merit.

Mr. Ifoh lamented that the Enugu and Nasarawa Gubernatorial cases as well as that of Nkanu East constituency, all had similar facts but contrary Judgements.

“To be clear, it is important that Nigerians understand that Enugu State is a Labour Party State and we make bold to say that the Labour Party’s candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, clearly won the March 18 governorship election held in Enugu” Ifoh stated.

According to Mr. Ifoh, the Labour Party won two out of the three senatorial seats in the State; seven out of the eight House Of Representatives seats in the State, and fourteen out of the twenty-four seats in the State House of Assembly.

“This claim is justified by the outcome of all the other elections held in the State between February and March this year”.

“Notwithstanding the above true position, the Enugu State Governorship Election Tribunal on Saturday, 21st September 2023 shockingly delivered a judgment on the disputed election that appeared to have ignored the facts in the issue.

He explained that the judgment fell short of the expectations of both the majority of Nigerians and legal pundits who have continued to criticize the fundamental logic and the premise upon which the decision was reached.

“With the recent judgment of the Governorship Election Tribunal in Nasarawa State and the Nkanu East State Constituency Tribunal judgment, the Labour Party is forced to revisit the travesty of justice that took place in the Enugu governorship tribunal judgment, especially given that the three situations presented similar facts, yet different pronouncements were made by the judiciary.

“Recall that the Enugu Governorship Election Tribunal discountenanced the testimonies of our material witnesses who testified that there was manifest over-voting in Owo and Ugbawka for the erroneous reason that they were not accredited witnesses of the Party.

One, the tribunal erred in that regard because the law has always been that every voter in Nigeria is an eligible witness before a tribunal, more so when the said witnesses were members of the Labour Party. Two, as already established in Torti Vs Ukpabi, it has long been a settled issue that what determines the admissibility of evidence is its relevance.

Edited By Grace Namiji