The Supreme Court of Nigeria has delivered a verdict, dismissing the appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Uche Nnaji, challenging the victory of Governor Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last Enugu State governorship election.
In the election, Governor Mbah secured a resounding victory with 160,895 votes, while Uche Nnaji garnered only 14,575 votes, placing fourth. Following his defeat, Nnaji, the APC candidate, filed an appeal asking the court to disqualify Governor Mbah, as well as candidates from the Labour Party and the All Progressives Grand Alliance, on the grounds of alleged violations of the asset declaration law and other reliefs.
However, the Enugu State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, led by Justice K.M Akano, dismissed Nnaji’s petition on June 20, 2023. Unsatisfied with this decision, Nnaji approached the Court of Appeal, seeking to have the dismissed petition sent back to the Tribunal for a hearing.
The Enugu Division of the Court of Appeal upheld the Tribunal’s decision and also imposed a fine of N250,000 each on Nnaji and the APC.
In the recent Supreme Court judgment, a five-member panel ruled that the legal team of the APC and Nnaji had filed an invalid brief of argument and had failed to provide compelling reasons why the court should accept their incompetent brief. Consequently, the Supreme Court dismissed the brief and the appeal, upholding Governor Mbah’s victory.
This ruling by the Supreme Court marks the end of the legal challenge against Governor Peter Mbah’s election victory in Enugu State.
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