Enugu: Your Ruling Has Shown That Political Aspirants Are Free To Manipulate Their Certificates – HURIWA To Tribunal

Posted by Thandiubani on Mon 25th Sep, 2023 - tori.ng

Reacting to the development, HURIWA lamented that the ruling has left the nation in disbelief.

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has questioned a ruling by the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Enugu State affirming the election of Peter Mbah as Governor of the state.

Recall that the Tribunal had thrown out the Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate, Chijioke Edeoga’s petition against Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Reacting to the development, HURIWA lamented that the ruling has left the nation in disbelief.

They stated that the court has shown Nigerians that political aspirants can forge their certificates and get away with it.

The group said this at a press conference in Abuja addressed by their National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko.

Expressing its outrage at the tribunal’s verdict, the group observed that the ruling defies logic and raises serious questions about the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral system

The ruling is “a gross miscarriage of justice that undermines the principles of fairness and transparency in elections,” the group said.

It asserted that “the ruling not only condones potential acts of alleged certificate forgery but also sends a distressing message that political aspirants can manipulate their qualifications with impunity precisely because the Tribunal deliberately failed to address that aspect of the petition but rather played around flowery language to deodorise the panel’s decision to unleash injustice.

“The three-man tribunal, in a unanimous judgment delivered by its chairman, Justice Kudirat Akano, dismissed the petitions of the Labour Party and its candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, on the basis that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate is not a qualification to contest a governorship election.

“This reasoning demonstrates a troubling lack of understanding of the law and its application.

“One of the most troubling aspects of the ruling is the acknowledgement by the tribunal that Governor Mbah may or may not have presented a likely forged NYSC certificate because the Tribunal left the question in an unmitigated logical ambiguity when in fact it was expected to definitively make a pronouncement on the validity or invalidity of that allegation of certificate forgery which in any event the Governor has another subsisting matter in another court of coordinate jurisdiction for interpretation.

“The Tribunal which opted to deal with that matter, would have applied the law but rather applied sophistry and ended up not resolving that logical question.

“Astonishingly, the tribunal conceded that the certificate was presented but argued that because Mbah did not ‘intend’ to use it to aid his qualification, he cannot be disqualified.

“This dubious reasoning essentially tolerates potential forgery and undermines the very essence of electoral transparency and honesty,” Onwubiko added.