On Friday, the Supreme Court delivered a verdict rejecting the appeal brought forth by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Uche Nnaji, challenging the victory of Governor Peter Mbah in the last Enugu State gubernatorial election. Governor Peter Mbah contested as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the said election.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HEREā¶
In the election, the APC candidate garnered a total of 14,575 votes, placing a distant fourth, while Governor Mbah secured 160,895 votes….CONTINUE READING
In response to his electoral defeat, Nnaji approached the court with a request to disqualify Governor Mbah, Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party, and Frank Nweke Jr. of the All Progressives Grand Alliance.
Nnaji claimed that these candidates were ineligible to participate in the election, alleging violations of asset declaration laws and seeking other reliefs.
The Justice K.M Akano-led Enugu State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal had dismissed Nnaji’s petition on June 20, 2023. Dissatisfied with the tribunal’s decision, Nnaji then turned to the Court of Appeal, requesting the court to remand the dismissed petition back to the Tribunal for a hearing and determination of the case.
However, the Enugu Division of the Court of Appeal upheld the Tribunal’s decision, dismissing the suit and imposing a fine of N250,000 each against Nnaji and the APC.
In the recent ruling, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court determined that the legal team representing the APC and Nnaji had submitted an invalid brief of argument and failed to provide compelling reasons to justify allowing the appeal based on their deficient brief.
In the leading judgment, Justice Tijani Abubakar emphasized that the invalidity of the appellant’s brief extended to the appeal itself, rendering it unsustainable.
