….Challenges declaration of Mbah as Enugu governor elect at tribunal.
From Maurice Okafor,Enugu.
The battle of who becomes the next civilian governor of Enugu state is not yet settled. The declaration of Dr Peter Mbah, the Enugu PDP candidate in the election held on Saturday, March 18, as governor elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) is being challenged by Barr Cbijioke Jonathan Edeoga, the candidate of the Labour party, in the said election.
Both the Nigerian constitution and the 2022 electoral court provides that candidates who are not satisfied with results declared by INEC after the elections,can seek redress in the election tribunal and fufther in the higher courts.
In line with these provisions, the tribunals that will entertain petitions on the 2023 election matters across states through the country where the governorship elections were held are gradually springing up.
THE AUTHORITY checks revealed that the Enugu state governorship election tribunal have received two petitions kicking against the declaration of Dr Peter Mbah,as duly elected.
In petition with number EP1/EN/GOV is betweeen (1)Edeoga Chijioke Jonathan(2)Labour Party as Petitioners and (1) Independent National Electoral Commission(2)Mbah Peter Ndubuisi(3) PDP was authenticated and certified as a matter before the tribunal,dated April 6.
Edeoga is approaching the ttibunal to declare him as the candidate who won the election on the claim that the results as was announced by INEC was compromised and did not represent the actual number of votes cast by the real voters across the state on the day of the election.
The final result as announced by Enugu INEC Returning Officer after three days of deadlock had Peter Mbah(PDP) as the winner with 160,895 votes and Edeoga Jonathan(LP) as second with 157,552 votes.Mr Frank Nweke(jnr) of APGA and Chief Uche Nnaji(APC) took 3rd and 4th positions with much lower votes.
Edeoga is also claiming that Dr Peter Mbah is not qualified to have participated in the state governorship election over his alleged presentation of forged NYSC certificate.
Edeoga will also be proving to the tribunal how some of the votes alloted to Peter Mbah violated the provisions of the electoral act and should be adjudged invalid.
Another petition submitted,authenticated and certified by the election tribunal in Enugu kicking against the election of Dr Peter Mbah is between(1) Mr Richard Agu(2) Peoples Redemption Party as Petitioners and (1)INEC(2) Peter Ndubuisi Mbah(3)PDP as Respondents.
Meanwhile Barr Chijioke Edeoga has described the speculated rift between him and his party’s(LP) presidential candidate,Mr Peter Obi as lies from the pit of hell. He said there’s no iota of truth in the speculation peddled in some social media platform but a devised evil plot by the detractors of the party,to instill crisis among Labour party faithfuls.
He said both him and Peter Obi,the LP candidate are working relatively to recover their respective stolen mandate,in their utmost desire to serve humanity and rescue Nigetians fron political slavery.
Edeoga’s marathon detailed press statement signed by himself and made available to news men read in parts,
” My attention has been drawn to a news item currently circulating around social media, and which purports I made certain statements about the person of the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi.
” My first instinct upon receiving the reports was to ignore them, as I was sure the report, unfounded and untenable as it is, was a part of the desperate, yet vain efforts of agents of destabilisation that have been unleashed to attack and impugn the integrity of the Labour Party and its leaders across the country.
“These attacks have been relentless since the unfortunate outcome of the Presidential and Governorship elections of February 25, and March 18, 2023, where the will for positive change that a vast majority of Nigerians expressed through the ballots was nefariously subverted by those whose only mission was to arrest our collective national renaissance.
“Ever since the unfortunate outcome of the elections, both Peter Obi and I, in full agreement with our great Party, have gone to Court, expecting to get justice, not just for ourselves as candidates in the election, but for Nigerians who voted for us, and who see us as emblematic of the change they have longed to experience.
” We are aware that, having challenged the integrity of what they would want to regard as their victory at the polls, the people who have clearly murdered sleep by their mindless usurpation of the mandate of the people, have found preoccupation in manufacturing and spreading all manner of tasteless, asinine falsehoods against the opposition, all in futile efforts to appear good and legitimize their contrived victories.
” This is exactly what is happening both at the national level of our Great party, where desperate attacks are being invented against the person of Peter Obi and the Labour Party on a daily basis, and in Enugu, where those who claim they were victorious at the polls are busy trying to create discontent between me and Peter Obi, rather than celebrating their pyrrhic electoral triumph.
” I must state at this point that this is the umpteenth effort these people are making at inventing a non-existent disagreement between myself and Peter Obi. They tried all they could during the campaigns, but we ignored them and, instead, focused on our strategy of engaging the people both at the state and national levels.
” With particular reference to the meeting the purveyors of infamy claimed I held in my residence, and where I purportedly said Obi fought against me during the elections, I wish to state categorically that such a meeting never took place.
“It is important to state that the Labour Party understands the mutual interdependence and interconnectedness of everyone involved at the various layers and levels in our movement, and never brooked mistrust of one against the other. We understood and believed that the success of one is the success of all and that was why our messages were never personal but issues-oriented, ensuring that a campaign message in our dear Enugu State for instance can resonate in favour of our candidates in other states. This was unlike what was obtainable in the opposition camp, where senatorial candidates were openly canvassing for the presidential candidates of rival political parties, and where sitting Governors refused to attend the rallies of the presidential candidate of their own party.
” The author of the dubiously disingenuous press release claimed that I made those statements while addressing members of a phantom “Coalition of Support Groups for Okaome.” But the truth is that there is no such coalition in the universe of the Labour Party and Chijioke Edeoga campaign structure anywhere in Enugu State. Even the author of this piece of egregious propaganda should have known that I have never used my chieftaincy title of Okaome in my campaigns; it has always been my name, and I was very intentional about it.
“I doubt if it would make any sense, to respond to the various contrived subplots in the press release, because if the event where they claimed that the claimed I made the statement never took place, then tackling issues raised in the news item, one issue at a time, amounts to a total waste of time.
“I have had a very strong relationship with our revered Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and I am aware that he also harbours profound love and respect for my person. He has made strong statements about his endorsement of my candidature through a number of verifiable channels, on television, on his Twitter accounts and at various rallies and events. We worked together all through the campaign, and it was a result of this strong working relationship that Enugu people delivered over 80 percent of votes to the Labour Party during the Presidential elections.
“Peter Obi and I are bonded, not just by our membership of the same political party, but more by our commitment to transparency, honesty and corruption-free lifestyles. We both ascribe to the notion that leadership has to be defined by character, competence, capacity and commitment to the ideals of people-oriented leadership.
“The values we represent as patriots are values that we hope will translate to moral reinvention, as well as social and economic transformation for Enugu State and Nigeria. We hold strongly to these values and, unlike the characters behind this unfortunate falsehood, do not believe in integrity by association. We do not believe in bumping into people whose character we covet and taking advantage of situations for photo opportunities”.
” Character is not transferable by photography. If the betrayal of Jesus had happened in this era, Judas would possibly have been photographed giving our Lord that kiss of betrayal. And this is why I find it rather funny that the character behind this ridiculous fake news item was trying to make capital out of a chance meeting between Peter Mbah and Peter Obi at a burial ceremony in Anambra State.
