By Prince Ejeh Josh

Let me reassert unequivocally, as a lawyer who has followed the trend of elections and the judicial fireworks that follow them over the years, that the petition laying before the governorship election tribunal as filed by Edeoga challenging the PDP and its governorship candidate, Peter Mbah, is dead on arrival because of its inherent and incurable weaknesses and lack of evidence. The petition is riddled with assumptions, speculations and deviated from every known judicial norm. There is a recondite burden of proof on the petitioner, Edeoga, who had rushed to court with the hope of blackmailing and ambushing the court into falling prey to his media stunts, propaganda, fake news and sympathy entrapment. The court, however, is not a court of emotion, or sentiment but a court of justice where facts and evidence are the dominant variables. 

Aside the above, I would be quick to admonish some political hawks, gullible investors and unsuspecting members of the public who are being swindled of their savings both in Nigeria and abroad with the promise of inviting them to take over lucrative and juicy positions once judgment is procured through the backdoor by the Labour Party in the state that they have been ripped off by those whose character and integrity have been marred with fraud, desperation and lies. 

Be sure that threading this dangerous path of gambling, your political investments, donations, loans and bonds, are unarguably, unprofitable venture if you decide to go ahead to part with your money because of being brainwashed. For their information, Enugu Labour Party is scamming them because they knew from the beginning that Edeoga lost the election and would also lose at the tribunal. 

Those making contribution for Edeoga in dollars, pounds and naira to buy the court should ask themselves some pertinent questions about the possibility of Edeoga losing and what becomes of them because it is certain that Edeoga is going to lose the frivolous petition he had stage-managed to exploit his victims foolishly parting with their capital. Not even media stunts and fake news would influence the outcome of the judicial process because of the irremediable defects in the petition.

Both senior and young lawyers who have taken pain to go through the badly conjured Petition and the robust Reply from the PDP have come to the conclusion that, what Edeoga and those sponsoring him had embarked on is a voyage and exercise in futility. They summed up Edeoga’s inevitable fate at the court as one that will end up on a treadmill and political fatality. In particular, even lawyers from Edeoga’s camp have admitted they came out for the cash as what Edeoga was trying to ask them to put up in the court amounts to an academic exercise the court is likely to throw out, decline jurisdiction or dangle the scale of justice and give him some bloody nose with its judicial sword. 

It is a failed mission even before the journey commenced.

For instance, one of the grounds of Edeoga’s petition is the issue of alleged certificate forgery by the second respondent who is today the Governor-elect. The argument of the first petitioner, Edeoga, was that the second respondent was not qualified ab initio to contest the election having submitted a forged NYSC discharge certificate to the first respondent, INEC. It, therefore, asked the court to disqualify the second respondent and declare him winner of the March 18, 2023 governorship election. 

Indeed, the issue of forgery is a criminal offence which must be established by the prosecution proving its case beyond reasonable doubt as provided for in section 139 of the Evidence Act 2011. It is not enough to speculate or rely on assumption to prove that forgery had existed. As noted earlier, Edeoga’s case is one of recondite in that sections 131, 132 and 133 of the above Act require a petitioner to discharge the burden of proof before judgment is entered for him. It is glaring that the petitioner has got nothing to prove. 

Frequent visit to radio stations, television shows, newspapers interviews and social media rantings would not save the Labour Party candidate as his strength depends on fake news and emotional manipulation of members of the public. It’s even more interesting to learn that Edeoga, having orchestrated some bad eggs in the NYSC to issue dubious and false statement about Mbah’s NYSC discharge certificate, surreptitiously rushed to the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, using a sponsored third party seeking the disqualification of the Governor-elect from participating in the March 18 governorship election. 

In a well considered judgment between Registered Trustee of Peoples Wellbeing Association (desperately sponsored by Edeoga and his political godfathers from Ukehe) v Peter Mbah, the court refused to grant the prayers of the plaintiff on the ground that there was no evidence that the certificate was forged or did not emanate from the NYSC. The court did not stop there, it held that the defendant, Mbah, had been able to provide sufficient, compelling and convincing proof that, he participated in the scheme, had the certificate with No A808297 issued to him by the NYSC and entered judgment in his favour.

In order to mislead the tribunal, having been clear that the state Labour Party has no single margin of chance of survival at the court, Edeoga went ahead and sponsored another faceless Silver and Co. Associate to collude with his criminal syndicate at the NYSC to issue another letter in contravention of the subsisting judgment of the High Court of the FCT which Edeoga had earlier approached through his crony but woefully failed. That letter amounts to a contempt of the court and there must be legal consequences in due time. 

What is more amusing to me is that, by Edeoga raising the issue of certificate forgery before the tribunal, the High Court of FCT having given judgment earlier on it and the matter having become Res Judicata in law and in fact, this confirms the position of some lawyers in his team that they came to cash out from the folly of the petitioners. One will, therefore, question the legality of the claim of Edeoga being a lawyer, or like Macbeth, he has been bewitched by inordinate ambition and desperation that he could not smell the legal landmines he had set for himself.