THE Labour Party (LP) has released its official statement in the aftermath of the Enugu State Election Petition Tribunal.
The statement was released by the party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure, on Thursday.
The Tribunal, had, earlier on Thursday, upheld the victory of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Candidate, Peter Mbah.
In its judgment, the 3-man tribunal panel chaired by Justice Kudirat Murayo dismissed the petition of the LP’s candidate, Chijioke Edeoga.
It held that the petitioner was unable to proved its case.
Apparently dissatisfied, the LP has lambasted the tribunal over what the party describes as “ridiculous rulings.”
Below is the full statement of the press release by the Labour Party:
PRESS RELEASE FROM LABOUR PARTY
By National Chairman, Julius Abure
“Enugu Governorship Tribunal judgement against Labour Party is absurd, stark reality of future of judiciary in Nigeria.
“Labour Party today watched in horror as another absurdity played out in Enugu where the Governorship Tribunal dismissed allegations of NYSC certificate forgery against the PDP candidate, Peter Mbah.
“The tribunal also struck out our party’s allegation of over-voting, bypass of BVAS while insisting that Peter Mbah was duly elected as governor by majority of lawful and valid votes cast at the election.
“Though we will seek redress at Court of Appeal immediately knowing that justice was miscarried in this particular case and that the tribunal judgement can not stand however we are worried about the level of degeneration in our judiciary where ridiculous rulings are frequently churned out from the hallowed temple of justice.
“Our case before the tribunal was a clear case of electoral robbery where we pointed out that in Enugu, after the collation of 16 LGAs out of the 17 LGAs of the state, our candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, was leading with over 11,000 votes, surprisingly, the PDP in Enugu, working in cahoots with the INEC, shockingly and provocatively wrote and awarded to the PDP a whopping 30,000 votes at Nkanu East LGA, the LGA of the PDP candidate.
“We pointed out that the figures from the INEC BVAS, Nkanu East LGA recorded a total number of 15,000 accredited voters on election day. However, when votes were declared, the PDP was allocated a total number of 30,350 votes while a total number of 1,855 was credited to the Labour Party. So, we asked how could INEC have turned out over 33,000 votes in a place where only about 15,000 voters were accredited.
“We had also asked the tribunal to disqualify the PDP candidate for presenting a fake NYSC certificate. The athourity of NYSC confirmed that the PDP candidate absconded from service and that the certificate he parades was not issued by them. Doesn’t that seems like an open and close case, yet the tribunal saw nothing in a clear case of electoral forgery and perjury.
“In the wake of this judgement, we were aware of series of visits made by Mba to Aso Rock and we also took note of his level of confidence lately. However, we had ignored these ominous signs while hoping that the blind Lady of Justice will act impartially but we are shocked with this judicial endorsement.”
