By Tom Okpe
National Chairman of the Labour Party, Barr Julius Abure has said the Enugu State Governorship Tribunal judgement against the party is absurd, and a reality of judiciary future in Nigeria.
The Enugu State Tribunal, declared on Wednesday that the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) candidate, Peter Mbah as winner of the March 18, 2023 Governorship election in the country.
The LP had dragged Mbah and the PDP to the Tribunal, for series of irregularities in the election, whereby, rejecting the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) declaration of Mbah and subsequently, sworn in as governor of the state.
But reacting to the judgement in Abuja on Thursday, Abure, in a press statement said; “the LP watched, in horror, as another absurdity played out in Enugu, where the Governorship and House of Assembly Tribunal, dismissed allegations of NYSC certificate forgery against the PDP candidate, Mbah.”
The statement reads: “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 the Supreme Court 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, but surprisingly, the PDP in Enugu, working 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 votes 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.
“The party may be weeping today for this travesty of justice meted at us but we do not know whose turn it would be tomorrow.
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“Evil, they say, triumph when the righteous keep silent and when they refuse to condemn it. We think that the judiciary has a key role to play in keeping our democracy alive and safe.
“We therefore, call for a concerted effort by all well meaning Nigerians to guide this all important arm of government and ensure that it is not captured by the state. We must all rise to save our democracy.”
