ENUGU, Nigeria — The Enugu Division of the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, dismissed the case brought forward by the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate, Uche Nnaji, challenging the 2023 gubernatorial victory of Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Enugu state.
Justice J.O.K Oyewole, who led the three-man panel, delivered the decision confirming the earlier dismissal of Nnaji’s petition by the Justice K.M Akano-led Enugu State Governorship Election Tribunal on June 20, 2023.
Nnaji, who came fourth in the election with 14,575 votes against Governor Mbah’s 160,895, had contested that Mbah was not constitutionally qualified to run for the governor’s office.
Nnaji claimed that Mbah allegedly presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
He further averred that Governor Mbah was not elected by the majority of lawful votes cast at the election.
Candidates of Labour Party, LP, Chijioke Edeoga, and All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Frank Nweke Jr., were also named respondents.
Nnaji alleged they had violated the asset declaration law and were, therefore unqualified to run in the election.
He requested the Tribunal either to disqualify Mbah, Edeoga, and Nweke and declare him the winner or command INEC to conduct a runoff election with the remaining candidates.
Nonetheless, Justice M.K Akano, Chairman of the Tribunal, ruled on the petition EPT/EN/GOV/05/23 that the provisions of the Electoral Act did not file the lawsuit and hence could not be heard under paragraph 18(3) (4) of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act, 2022.
Unyielding, Nnaji took his case to the Court of Appeal, urging it to return the dismissed petition to the Tribunal for reconsideration.
However, in the latest turn of events, marked by the case CA/E/E/EP/GOV/EN/01/2023, the Court of Appeal confirmed the Tribunal’s verdict and dismissed Nnaji’s suit.
Further, the court imposed fines of N250,000 each against Nnaji and the APC, reaffirming Dr. Peter Mbah’s victory as the legitimate Governor of Enugu state.
