The Supreme Court's ruling on September 15, 2023, marked a significant development in the Enugu State election dispute, affirming Governor Peter Mbah's victory and dismissing the appeal brought by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Uche Nnaji. In a verdict delivered by Justice Tijani Abubakar, the apex court determined that Nnaji and the APC had submitted an invalid brief of argument, lacking substantial reasons to challenge Governor Mbah's election.

The Supreme Court's decision was primarily rooted in the legal defects present in the appellants' case, which, in turn, impacted the overall merit of their appeal. As a result, the court ruled the appellants' case as incompetent and upheld Governor Mbah's election victory.

This ruling followed a previous dismissal of Nnaji's case by the Court of Appeal in Enugu on July 18. The appellate court found Nnaji's appeal to lack merit and endorsed the verdict of the Enugu State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which upheld Governor Mbah's election win. Additionally, the appellate court imposed a cost of N250,000 each on Nnaji and the APC.

Governor Mbah's victory was initially declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which announced that he had secured 160,895 votes in the gubernatorial poll, defeating his closest rival, Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party (LP), who garnered 157,552 votes. Frank Nweke Jnr. of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) came in third with 17,983 votes, while Uche Nnaji finished fourth with 14,575 votes.

Nnaji's dissatisfaction with the election outcome led to his petition, in which he alleged that Governor Mbah was ineligible to contest, claiming that he had presented a forged certificate to INEC. Nnaji also argued that Mbah had not been duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast during the election. His petition sought the disqualification of Governor Mbah, Edeoga, and Nweke, with the ultimate aim of either declaring himself the winner or ordering a runoff election, excluding Mbah and the PDP.

In a prior verdict delivered on June 20, the Enugu State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had already dismissed Nnaji's petition. The tribunal's decision was based on the grounds that the petition did not align with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.

Dissatisfied with this initial judgment, Nnaji sought recourse in the appellate court, hoping to overturn the tribunal's ruling. He presented an alternative request, urging the appellate court to direct the tribunal to thoroughly examine his petition on its merits. However, this alternative plea was also rejected by the appellate court in its decision handed down on Friday.