Supreme Court dismisses APC’s case against Enugu gov’s victory

By Biola Adebayo On Sep 15, 2023

Supreme Court, Enugu State,Uche Nnaji , APC,PDP,Peter Mbah — A photo combination of 2023 APC governorship candidate Uche Nnaji and Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah

The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate in the last governorship election in Enugu State, Uche Nnaji challenging the return of Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as winner of the election.

SOLACEBASE had reported that the Enugu Division of the Court of Appeal in July dismissed the suit filed by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 Enugu State governorship election, Uche Nnaji, challenging the victory of Governor Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The decision of the three-man panel of the appellate court was delivered by Justice J.O.K Oyewole on Tuesday.

Nnaji, whose petition was initially dismissed by the Justice K.M Akano-led Enugu State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal on June 20, had approached the appellate court to seek redress.

Delivering judgement on the petition marked EPT/EN/GOV/05/23, the Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice M.K Akano, said 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.

Consequently, Nnaji approached the Court of Appeal, praying for it to send the dismissed petition back to the tribunal for hearing and determination of the suit.

At the resumed hearing of the appeal marked CA/E/E/EP/GOV/EN/01/2023 on Tuesday, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the tribunal and dismissed the suit accordingly.

However, on Friday, a five-member panel of the apex court held, in a judgment, that the legal team of the APC and Nnaji filed invalid brief of argument and failed to convince the court with cogent reason why the appellants’ incompetent brief should be allowed.

In the lead judgment, Justice Tijani Abubakar held that since the appellants’ brief was found to be invalid, the invalidity also affect the appeal in respect of which the appeal was filed.

He proceeded to dismiss the brief and appeal filed by the appellants.