By Linus Aleke, Abuja
The Governorship candidate of the opposition, Labour Party in Enugu State, during the 2023, general elections, has instructed his legal team to head to the Supreme Court as, the incumbent Governor of the State, Mr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, on Friday, flowed him again at the Appeal Court, sitting in Lagos State.
His campaign organization spokesman, Mr. George Ugwu, made this revelation in a statement widely circulated to the press, shortly after the verdict, on Friday.
Governor Mbah had earlier on 21 September 2023, defeated, the candidate of Labour Party (LP), at the election petition tribunal that sat in Enugu.
The tribunal had also, dismissed the petitions of All Progressive Congress (APC), candidate, Mr. Uche Nnaji. The litigation, which progressed to the Supreme Court, saw Mbah and the PDP triumph in all counts.
This is in addition to the dismissal of the suit filed by candidate of the People’s Redemption Party, Mr. Christopher Agu against the victory of Peter Mbah, which did not also see the light of the day.
The statement reads: “The Edeoga/Nwokeabia Campaign organization received with shock and disappointment the judgement of the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos on the petition of the Enugu State Chapter of the Labour Party and its candidate in the March 18 Governorship Election in the state, Hon. Chijioke Edeoga.
Our lawyers present at the Court have briefed the Party and the Candidate and the way forward determined.
They have been instructed to explore the constitutional rights of appeal to the Supreme Court, while we continue to engage the human conscience to uphold what is right and just and what will, in the end, help reignite the blinking and fading embers of our humanity as Nigerians.
We thank the great people of Enugu State and all our supporters worldwide for their steadfastness and enduring love”.
The statement also enjoined the party supporters to remain peaceful, law-abiding, prayerful and purposefully expectant of victory in the end.
The Appeal Election Petition Tribunals litigations across the six geopolitical zones were transferred to Lagos and Abuja, following allegations and petitions against state tribunal judges.
Some political parties and their candidates had alleged that the judges at the state tribunals had been compromised by governors.
Reacting to the above allegations and petitions,
the president of the court of appeal, Monica Dongban-Mensem, directed that all appeals arising from election petition cases across the country be transferred to the Abuja and Lagos divisions.
The order affects gubernatorial, national and state assemblies’ elections, which held between February and March 2023.
Although the appeals from the various state tribunals are supposed to be heard across the 20 appellate courts in the country, only two divisions of the court is now presiding over the election appeals.
The Abuja division is handling appeals from 19 northern states while 17 southern states’ cases are beeen heard in Lagos.
