Governor of Akwa Ibom State Umo Eno has joined the league of governors whose elections have been affirmed by the election petitions tribunals.
Among the governors, whose elections have been validated by the tribunals are Lagos State’s Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his Bauchi State counterpart, Bala Mohammed, Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State, Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State and Enugu State’s Peter Mbah.
Eno’s fate was decided yesterday by the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital which dismissed suit filed by the governorship candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Senator John James Akpanudoedehe.
The former All Progressives Congress (APC) national scribe-turned candidate of the NNPP had challenged the election of Eno of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before the tribunal.
After over an hour judgement, the tribunal, in a unanimous decision declared that Akpanudoedehe’s petition against the governor, the PDP and INEC, lacked merit.
LEADERSHIP gathered the petition followed the defective trajectory of two previous cases dismissed by the tribunal two weeks ago by virtue of the attempt to resurrect the subject matter of certificate forgery levelled against Governor Eno, which has been laid to rest by the Supreme Court.
Counsel to the PDP had told the tribunal that the petition was “most unambitious” as the petitioners neglected, and or refused to declare what they really wanted.
Akpanudoedehe had in his arguments claimed that Governor Eno was a convict by the Wuse Magistrate Court, Abuja, thereby robbing him of the qualification to contest the March 18, 2023 governorship election.
He prayed the tribunal to order that the election be cancelled and a fresh one conducted within 90 days.
He also alleged that the governor was born in Enugu, even though he declined to show proof of this claim as he neither front loaded nor relied upon any document to back it.
To buttress his point, AkpanUdoedehe, with over 5,000 voting units in the state, the NNPP candidate called only two witnesses with himself as one of the two.
Under cross examination, the NNPP candidate admitted, when shown the enrolled order of the Wuse Magistrate Court repudiating its judgement orders, that he lacked knowledge of the existence of the order before his petition.
Counsel to the PDP and the governor, Mr Emmanuel Enoidem had said in their submission that the NNPP petition was most unambitious, as the petitioner had not only failed to prove the criminal allegation of forgery, but also failed to state what he wants.
The tribunal presided over by Justice Adekunle Adeleye ruled that lacking in merit, the petition was dismissed.
Reacting to the verdict, Enoidem said, “The judgement was in strong agreement with the position of the law.”