Enugu Tribunal orders Gov. Mbah’s attendance on Friday due to a fake certificate.

Governor Peter Mbah has been summoned by the Enugu State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to testify before it tomorrow about an alleged forgery of his National Youth Service Corps discharge certificate.

The Peoples Redemption Party filed the application through its attorney, Mr. Alex Amujiogo, and the order was the response.

In response to his alleged forgery of the National Youths Service Corps Discharge Certificate presented to the electoral umpire, Mbah, who was declared the winner of the March 18 governorship election in Enugu State by the Independent National Electoral Commission, is coming under increasing pressure from the Labour Party candidate Chijioke Edeoga and the PRP candidate Elder Christopher Agu.

As with the LP candidate, Gov. Mbah was declared the victor of the March 18 governorship election in the State by the PRP candidate Agu.

Agu claims in a petition submitted to the Tribunal that Mbah was ineligible to run for office because, among other things, he allegedly falsified a NYSC discharge certificate.

The PRP’s attorney, Amujiogo, informed the tribunal during the resumed hearing on Thursday that Mbah was scheduled to appear in court as a subpoenaed witness.

However, he claimed that the bailiff of the Tribunal’s evidence proved that it had been challenging to serve Mbah with the summons.

The Tribunal was then urged by Amujiogo in a motion to provide a substituted service of the summons on Mbah through his attorney.

Although the three respondents, INEC, Mbah, and the People’s Democratic Party, objected the application on the grounds that it should have been presented by motion, accompanied by an affidavit during the pre-trial session.

The Tribunal disregarded them, nonetheless.

As a result, the subpoena was issued on Mbah through his attorney, and the Chairman of the Panel, Justice K. M. Akano, ordered that he appear before the Tribunal tomorrow, June 23, 2023.

The PRP governorship candidate, meantime, had earlier testified before the Tribunal as PW2 during the session.

Mr. Aliu Muhammed, an official of the NYSC from the National Secretariat in Abuja who also appeared on behalf of the Director-General of the Corps, submitted an affidavit to the Tribunal stating that they were unable to submit the disclaimer the Corps made against Mbah’s certificate due to a Federal High Abuja order.

Muhammad appeared in court as a result of a NYSC summons.

Addressing journalists, PRP lawyer, Amujiogo said, “Our PW2 (Christopher Agu) has already testified before the Honourable Tribunal and he has given a clearer picture, the synopsis of what transpired during the election and we are urging the Tribunal to set aside the purported result in favour of Peter Mbah, the Governor.

“We had an issue of a subpoena against Barr Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, in which the Tribunal is urging him to appear before it to clarify certain issues against him, based on his NYSC certificate and other matters.

“Surprisingly, he was not in the Tribunal today and the bailiff informed the Tribunal that he is invading service, he cannot find him, and the security cannot allow him to serve Mbah the subpoena.

“Then, the Tribunal in its own wisdom, after I have applied, has now permitted the bailiff or myself, to now serve Mbah through his counsel, for him to appear before the Tribunal tomorrow, being 23rd of June, 2023 and clarify certain issues against him before the Tribunal and we have already served him the said subpoena through his lawyer, Ik Onuoma today in court.

“So he must obey the summon of the Tribunal by appearing in person tomorrow, Friday.”

The Tribunal also heard the complaint brought by Mr. Chijioke Edeoga, a candidate for governor from the Labour Party.

The Tribunal heard the ongoing interlocutory application over Mbah’s allegedly forged NYSC certificate, which was filed on May 16.

As a result of the alleged falsification, Edoga is pleading with the tribunal to disqualify Mba, an action he believes breaches Section 182(j) of the Nigerian Constitution.

The Petitioners moved their interlocutory application during the Tribunal’s Thursday resumed session through their attorney, Mr. M. J. Numa, and the case was then postponed until Saturday, May 24, when the application would be decided as well as a pre-trial report.

Ifeanyi Ogenyi, one of Edeoga’s attorneys, addressed the media shortly after the Tribunal’s meeting and stated that the proceeding was an extension of the pre-hearing session.

He said “Pre-hearing started on 16th June and continued today; the petitioners brought an application, a motion interrogatories, seeking for answers from the second respondent, that is Mr Peter Mbah.

“Interrogatory is a legal questionnaire; it is seeking for answers to those questions.

“And some of the questions raised by the petitioners to Peter Mbah which we are urging the Tribunal that he (Mbah) should answer are: when and where did he serve? When was he appointed as Chief of Staff, the date? When was he made commissioner for finance in Enugu State? We want to know the duration he served.

“Because in his pleading, in his reply to the petition, he told the Tribunal that he was once Chief of Staff to Governor Chimaroke Nnamani in 2003, we want to know the year and the date he was appointed.

“We equally want him to produce before the Tribunal, the letter of appointment as Chief of Staff, the letter of appointment as commissioner for finance under Chimaroke and the institutions he said he attended; we want to have the documents showing that he attended those institutions.

“And the court is to deliver a ruling on that on 24th of June, that is on Saturday, whether he should answer those questions or not.”

“On their own side, they said ‘No’, they are not going to answer those questions; that answering those questions means that we want him to prove our case for us.

“But that is not the position. It is required under the law that where somebody has made volunteered some information, you can seek for further particulars;

“What we are seeking for is further particulars; he should clarify the Tribunal and our information on those issues he raised in his own pleadings.

“On 24th, we will be here for ruling and possibly conclusion of pre-hearing, and after pre-hearing and report is issued, we can now proceed to a substantive hearing,” he said.