Enugu state governorship election petition: How and when will it end?
4 min read
Election Petition Tribunal
By Emeka Ugwuonye
Many people ask me when the ongoing electoral petition will come to an end. That is a legitimate question. This is how I believe it will go: The tribunal will conclude its work fairly quickly. Electoral petitions are not supposed to drag out because it is all about an office with a fixed time duration. If it drags out, there is the risk that a usurper will be in the office for a long period of time and any extra day a usurper stays in the office is a day of injustice and harm to the people. In fact, that goes to the core of the much expected reform of our electoral petitions. There must be a way to prevent a usurper from assuming office at all until a meritorious petition against him has been resolved.
When a usurper assumes office, as I believe is the case of Peter Mbah, he could cause so much damage and harm within the time it takes to conclude the electoral petition. He may squander state money in a bid to recover campaign expenses and enrich himself and his friends unduly. So, entrusting the state coffers to a person who knows he would not be in office longer than a few months is dangerous.
I expect the tribunal to give its judgement in August. But that will not be the end of it. The true end of the process is at the Supreme Court and I expect the Supreme Court to give its judgment in November. Neither Edeoga nor Mbah will accept a negative decision by the tribunal. If the tribunal decides against Peter Mbah, he will go on appeal in order, at least, to prolong his stay in office by two to three months. If, on the other hand, it decides against Edeoga, he will have to go on appeal because he has an excellent case, which will ultimately be accepted by the Supreme Court.
So, it doesn’t matter what happens at the tribunal, the case will end up at the Supreme Court. The lawyers know this. And that is why a good lawyer will be fighting with two goals in mind. First, there is the goal of winning at the tribunal. And second, there is the goal of ensuring that you either have strong grounds for appeal or a sound judgment you can defend on appeal. So, it is important to litigate well at this stage. Make sure you have strong evidence to back your claims. Make sure you follow the Electoral Act 2022 very meticulously. I am impressed with the performance of Edeoga’s lawyers. They have brilliantly set the case on the right pedestal. Also, I commend Mbah’s lawyers. They are good too. Their problem, however, is that the facts and the evidence are against them. They have a near impossible task. They have no way to deal with Mbah’s certificate forgery problems. There is practically nothing they can do, which was why they tried but failed to get the court to dismiss that ground as a preliminary matter.
People have also asked me whether I think Mbah would try to influence the judges. My answer is yes. I believe Mbah influenced the INEC officials. So, there is nothing to stop him from trying to influence these judges at this stage. The stake it too high for him not to try, especially now that he is in control of the finances of Enugu State. However, his ability to influence the judiciary will significantly reduce by the time he gets to the Supreme Court. He will not be impactful at that stage. Besides, the Supreme Court will be under tremendous pressure to be seen to do justice. I expect that the Supreme will not be able to reach a judgment against Tinubu. There will be tremendous outcry and disappointment if the Supreme Court decides against Atiku and Peter Obi. By getting many people to believe that Peter Obi won the presidential election, you have set the people up for disappointment and agitation if the Supreme Court decides in favor of Tinubu, which is what I believe will happen. Under such immense pressure, the Supreme Court will be most eager to be seen to do justice in the governorship cases. So, I believe that Mbah with all the money in this world will not be able to influence the Supreme Court.
Another question I have been asked has to do with the fact that Peter Mbah was seen in the past few days appearing to have had a private audience with President Tinubu. People ask me if I thought that he would have asked Tinubu to help him at the tribunals and whether I thought that Tinubu would oblige him. There is nothing unusual about a sitting Governor meeting with the President even if both of them happen to be facing electoral challenges in courts at the same time. Nobody knows what the two men could have discussed in private, if there was indeed any such private meeting. However, it is doubtful that Tinubu would be able to influence the courts for Peter Mbah. Tinubu should be more interested in the Lagos governorship cases than in Enugu’s case. Besides, how many favors will the courts do for Tinubu? Even if the courts were to listen to any interventions from Tinubu, the case of Mbah will be way behind on the list of favors that Tinubu will be asking the courts to do for him. So, Mbah will be foolish to count on any such favor from the President.
