The governorship candidate of Labour Party (LP), Hon Chijioke Edeoga, has finally submitted his petition at the Enugu State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to challenge the declaration of Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), as the winner of March 18 governorship election in the State.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared Mbah winner of the election, stating he polled 160, 895 votes against Edoga who scored 157, 552 votes.
The announcement of the result came 48 after the election, following a review of the controversial results from Nkanu East Local Government Area of the State by the INEC.
Edeoga alleged that the result was compromised and didn’t reflect the aspiration of voters in the State.
Meanwhile, in his petition submitted to the tribunal, which listed him and the Labour Party as the plaintiffs and the INEC, Mbah and the PDP as respondents, Edeoga based his petition on the ground, among others, that Mbah at the time of the election was not qualified to contest the election.
The petition contends that Mbah “having presented a forged National Youth Service Corps Certificate with Certificate Number A808297 was not qualified to contest the disputed election to the office of Governor of Enugu State”.
Edeoga also based his petition on grounds that the “declaration of Mbah as the winner was invalid by reason of Non-Compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022, and that he was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast at the election.”