The Labour Party (LP) and its governorship candidate in the last governorship election in Enugu State, Chijioke Edeoga, have closed their lawsuit against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s announcement of Peter Mbah as the winner of the March 18 election.
According to news sources, Mbah was declared the elected governor of Enugu State by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) following a hotly contested election.
Edeoga and his party, on the other hand, are contesting Mbah’s election participation on the grounds that he faked his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate.
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They also claimed that the election that produced Mbah was rigged, claiming that the PDP candidate did not receive the most legal votes cast.
According to this news platform, the Labour Party candidate ended his case after presenting many pieces of documentary evidence and calling a total of 30 witnesses to testify before the Enugu State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Enugu.
Among the materials he presented to the court were polling unit results (form EC8A) for all areas in dispute, ward collation results (form EC8B) for the affected areas, a summary of the results, and the declaration of the results.
The petitioners also tendered the NYSC supplied documents of Oma and Partners, form EC9 of Chijioke Edeoga and Governor Peter Mbah, and the BVAS machines, which were delivered to court by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), who was subpoenaed to appear before the court on Sunday.
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Though Edeoga had told the court that he would summon 37 witnesses to testify in the case, he concluded his case on Sunday with the evidence of the Enugu State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), who appeared as the petitioners’ 18th witness.
At the resumed hearing on Sunday, where the REC was summoned to present BVAS machines, one of the commission’s senior staff, Victor Okafor, brought only five BVAS machines, despite the petitioners’ demand for ten.
Edeoga has issued a subpoena to the REC in order to obtain the BVAS machines from the Owo and Ugbawka 1 Registration Areas in Nkanu East LGA, as well as some other polling units in Igboeze North LGA.
During cross-examination by the petitioners’ counsel, Okafor, who appeared on behalf of the REC, Dr Chukwuemeka Chukwu, stated that he was ordered to provide five BVAS machines to the tribunal.
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He stated that the information generated on the BVAS machines during the March 18 governorship election was now included in the BVAS report from the Headquarters in Abuja.
He said that he did not have the BVAS machines for the Nkanu East Local Government Area’s Owo and Ugbawka 1 registration locations, and that the devices could only be identified by their codes.
According to him, the codes of the five BVAS machines brought included 14/08/06/003, 14/08/01/002, 14/08/06/005, 14/08/17/012, 14/08/01/003,
“All the machines contained the BVAS and accessories,” the PUNCH quoted Okafor saying.
He stated that he could not operate the BVAS machines beyond the information he already provided about them because they had not been utilized since the election.
He also failed to submit certified true copies of the BVAS report of the 2023 governorship election polling unit-by-polling unit, as well as the CTC of voters, registration utilized in the Owo and Ugbawka 1 Registration Areas of the state’s Nkanu East LGA.
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He asserted, however, that he was not withholding any information, and that the petitioners had received all of the documents for which they had applied and paid.
The LP lawyer, Mr Eyitayo Fatogun (SAN), handed the five BVAS machines to the Tribunal while the PDP counsel, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu, and Mbah’s attorney, Mr Alex Izinyon, protested, saying their reasons will be made public during their final addresses.
The BVAS machines, however, were admitted as evidence by the trial.
In response to Mbah’s counsel’s enquiry, INEC personnel stated that the machine could only contain correctly uploaded accredited information.
Mr Abba Godwin and Amos Onyebuchi, LP agents from Ette Central and Ikwele Ugbele, respectively, both from the Igbo-Etiti North Local Government Area, testified that there was overvoting at their polling units during the governorship election.
As the petitioner’s case came to a close, the petitioner’s main counsel, Dr V.J Azinge (SAN), thanked the Tribunal for their patience.
Mr H Okoli, counsel for INEC, requested a date to begin their defense.
The Tribunal’s Chairman, Justice M. K. Akano, delayed the case to July 18 to allow INEC to present its case.
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