Court of appeal dismisses lawsuit filed by Enugu APC governorship candidate seeking to sack Governor Mbah

A lawsuit filed by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 general election in Enugu state, Chief Uche Nnaji, challenging the victory of Dr. Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party, has been struck out by the court of appeal. 

Nnaji had argued that Mbah was not constitutionally qualified to contest for the office of the governor at the time of the election, having allegedly presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The APC candidate who polled a total of 14,575 against Dr. Peter Mbah’s 160,895 votes, to place a distant fourth in the election, also argued that Governor Mbah was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the election.

Also joined as respondents were the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Hon. Chijioke Edeoga, and that of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Mr. Frank Nweke Jr., whom, according to the appellant, were not qualified to contest the election, having allegedly ran foul of the asset declaration law.

A three-man panel of the appellate court delivered judgement on the appeal on Tuesday, July 18. The Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Tribunal which held that the lawsuit was not filed in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act and could not be heard pursuant to paragraph 18(3) (4) of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act, 2022. The lawsuit was subsequently dismissed.