LP berates Tribunal Judgement, says it won Enugu guber election

The Labour Party has raised objections to the Enugu State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal’s decision, which dismissed its petition and declared Governor Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the March 18, 2023, governorship election in the state.

A three-member panel of the tribunal led by Justice Kudirat Akano dismissed the petition filed by Chijioke Edeoga, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP).

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) the winner with 160,895 votes, while Edeoga of the LP came in second with 157,552 votes.

Addressing the media at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday, the National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, in a speech titled ‘Enugu Guber Tribunal Judgement, Nasarawa Guber Tribunal Judgement, Nkanu East LGA: Similar Facts, Different Judgement,’ said the party’s gubernatorial candidate, based on the outcomes of all the elections held in the state between February and March this year, had defeated Governor Mbah.

He emphasised that the Labour Party winning two out of the three senatorial seats in the state, seven out of eight House of Representatives seats, and 14 out of the 24 seats in the state’s House of Assembly attested to the fact that the Labour Party won the governorship election.

According to Ifoh, “The Labour Party candidate, Honourable Barrister Chijioke Edeoga, was cruising to victory with the results of the election declared in 16 out of the 17 LGAs of the state when the PDP colluded with INEC to manufacture 30,000 plus votes for Mbah in the remaining Nkanu East LGA, even when only about 15,000 voters were accredited in that home LGA of Mbah.

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

This claim is justified by the outcome of all the other elections held in the state between February and March this year. The Labour Party won 2 out of 3 senatorial seats in the state, 7 out of the 8 Rep seats, and 14 out of 24 seats in the State House of Assembly.

“The INEC returning officer of the state, Prof. Maduebibisi Iwe, rejected the figures from Nkanu East because the BVAS was discarded, prompting the INEC headquarters to invite him to Abuja.

After three days, an Abuja INEC panel led by Festus Okoye reduced the total of 33,000 plus votes illegally hurled from Nkanu East alone to about 19,000 but gave Mbah almost 17,000 votes to enable him to beat LP’s Edeoga (who was leading with 11,000 votes plus) with 3,000 votes plus.

“It was essentially the above clear cases of over-voting that prompted the Labour Party and its candidate, Hon. Chijioke Edeoga, to approach the Tribunal in the hope that the judiciary will review and correct that anomaly.”

Ifoh added that while in Nasarawa, all the votes suppressed for the PDP were later returned to the party by the Tribunal in the state, he said it came as a surprise that the same did not apply in Enugu, which has similar facts as Nasarawa.

He described the Enugu State Election Petition Tribunal judgement as not acceptable and unconstitutional.

“In juxtaposing the above decision with the judgement delivered in the case of Nasarawa, the Governorship Tribunal in Nasarawa rightly admitted the testimonies of the material witnesses who came to testify that the votes of the PDP in Ashigie Ward, Chiroma Ward, etc. were wrongly suppressed and thereafter ordered the restoration of the said votes to the PDP even when the witnesses therein were not accredited witnesses of the PDP.”

The party’s Deputy National Chairman and Legal Adviser, Dr Ayo Olorunfemi and Barrister Kehinde Edun, respectively, while expressing confidence in the judiciary as the last hope of the common man, said the essence of the press briefing was for the Labour Party to express its dissatisfaction with the Enugu Tribunal judgement and carry the electorate along in its quest for justice to be done.

They said the Labour Party will do everything under the law to make sure that good governance is enthroned in Nigeria.