Sources have informed ENigeria Newspaper of a deliberate attempt by lawmakers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State to bribe judges handling the Election petition initiated by the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP, Chijioke Edoga against Peter Mbah of the PDP.
You would recall that days back, ENigeria Newspaper in an exclusive report hit the hornet nest after revealing clandestine moves by some recalcitrant lawmakers of the Labour Party who are allegedly hobnobbing with 10-member PDP lawmakers who at the behest of the embattled Governor of the state, Peter Mbah are allegedly plotting hard to frustrate the Labour Party candidate, Chijiioke Edoga
Governor Peter Mbah is in a major bottleneck, trying to prove his innocence in the alleged National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) certificate scandal which has cast a dark spot on his image and questions his educational qualifications presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
While all the odds appear to be against the governor, ENigeria Newspaper reports that the six legislators mentioned in this report are already said to be exploring possible ways to help the governor get a soft landing by way of repairing his already tainted image within public spaces including social media.
Despite constituting the majority of the Enugu State House of Assembly, the recalcitrant legislators have consistently frustrated House plenaries, but allegedly formed a quorum with the other ten PDP members, hence depleting the number of the LP which originally had majority members of 14.
Since the report was published, ENigeria Newspaper understands that the strategy has changed a bit, with the PDP lawmakers beating their chest that they would procure a judgment in favour of Governor Peter Mbah at any cost.
So far this newspaper reliably gathered that PDP members in the Enugu State House of Assembly have begun raising funds in a bid to compromise tribunal judges handling election cases in the state.
The information available to us clearly indicates that the 10-member PDP caucus in the assembly has held various meetings during which they agreed that the only way to restore a majority in the House was to find a way to compromise the judges handling various petitions brought by their members against the Labour Party winners of the elections.
It was further revealed that to prosecute the project, all the members resolved to contribute the sum of one million naira each.
A source who is abreast with the development also informed ENigeria Newspaper authoritatively that the PDP members boasted that they were optimistic about a favourable outcome because of the presence of Justice A.M. Abubakar in Panel One of the Enugu State Election Petitions Tribunal. Already there are existing allegations that Justice Abubakar is allegedly coordinating the transaction and acting as the intermediary between the PDP House of Assembly members and other members of the tribunal panel.
ENigeria Newspaper reports that the clandestine move followed the upturning of the elections of three House of Representatives elections that were called in favour of the Labour Party by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the senatorial election petition brought by the Labour Party candidate for Enugu West, Dennis Oguerinwa Amadi by judges handling the petitions in the state.
The state parliamentarians were allegedly encouraged by their belief that some of the decisions of the judges may have been influenced by monetary inducements, a development that prompted many of them to decide to explore the same method towards procuring victory for Peter Mbah.
The Labour Party won 14 of the 24 seats in the state assembly, seven of the eight House of Representatives seats and two of the three senatorial seats during the February 25 and March 18, 2023, national assembly and state houses of assembly elections in the country.
Although the Labour Party constitutes the majority of the members of the state assembly, PDP produced the speaker, following what was said to be a standing rule of the House, which favoured the election of a speaker with legislative experience.
All the Labour Party members are fresh assemblymen, a situation that denied them the speakership position, even with their numerical majority.
When contacted, a member of the assembly, Obinna Ijere, who represents the Udenu State constituency, denied knowledge of such a transaction as he is not a member of the PDP.
On Wednesday, when we put a call to Honourable Peter Ugwu, Speaker of Enugu State House of Assembly and after repeated calls to his MTN line went unanswered, we sent a text message which he failed to respond to as at press time.
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There is palpable fear that the administration of Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State might be drifting to authoritarianism following a spate of contracts recently awarded by his administration without appropriation.
ENigeria Newspaper reports that the contracts, which are 81 in number, are for the construction and expansion of roads and flyovers in various parts of the state and may have also been awarded without any enabling instrument from the State House of Assembly. READ MORE
