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In the current trial of certificate forgery, Peter Mbah, the governor of Enugu State, declined the invitation to appear before the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.

The trial is the result of a request made by Alex Amujiogo, a candidate for the People’s Redemption Party.

Mbah was reported to have ignored all summonses in the trial, which reopened on Friday after the Tribunal mandated substituted delivery of a subpoena on Mba through his attorney.

However, Amujiogo said, “This Honourable Tribunal had, on June 22, 2023, made an order that the subpoena be served on Peter Mbah through his counsel. We have since done that for him to appear today.

“My Lord, it is obvious that he is not in court under the pretence of immunity.

“And today is my last day for me to close my case; my hands are tied and I have no choice but to close my case.”

When asked about his next line of action, Amujiogo noted, “It is now left for the tribunal, in the course of this matter, to know the next step that they will undertake as regards his refusal or inability to appear today before the Tribunal; let us watch and see the battle will be like, between the tribunal and the governor.

“It has two legs- the tribunal can exercise its power of sanctions against the person who refuses his order; you also know that judgement is always at hand; it is the last option. The ball is in the court of the Tribunal to do things one way or the other.”

After the Tribunal session, Anthony Ani, the Peoples Democratic Party’s main attorney, told press that the petitioner did not follow the law’s requirements when serving the subpoena.

If the petitioners behaved properly, he claimed, the governor would be willing to show up.

According to Ani, “The petitioner has not complied with the mandatory provisions of the law; the default provision, respecting election petitions, is the Federal High Court Rules, which is very clear in service of Subpoena Testificandum or Duces Tecum.

“Now, when you serve a subpoena, that subpoena should have been filed alongside the originating process, that is the petition.

He added that when a case is filed, Order 3, Rule 4 of the Federal High Court Rules should be served to the witness who is being subpoenaed with Form 1A, explaining that Form 1A requires the witness to file a witness deposition under oath, and then served to the witness who is expected with their pleadings.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, the first respondent, was given until June 24, 2023 to present its case before the tribunal presided over by Justice K. M. Akano.

When it comes to receiving former state governor Nyesom Wike, the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State has stated that it is willing to do so.

Chief Tony Okocha, a senior member of the APC and a former chief of staff at the Rivers State Government House, made this statement at a news conference in Port Harcourt.

This came as rumors surfaced that Wike could defect to the APC from the PDP.

Wike has the right to join any party, according to Okocha, the coordinator of the BAT-Vanguard, also known as the South-South Bola Ahmed Tinubu Vanguard, which was disbanded.

He noted that some people seek to reap where they did not plant and that the role Wike played in Tinubu becoming the current president of Nigeria cannot be overstated.

Okocha stated, “We are noticing that some persons who abandoned Tinubu when Tinubu needed them most and voyaged outside the shores are now relying on their personal relationships one way or the other to begin to make some sense of entitlement. 

“That they are entitled to whatever. In the leadership of the Tinubu family in Rivers State, we are at peace 100 per cent with His Excellency, Barr Nyesom Wike, the immediate past Governor of Rivers State as our leader.

“He who pays the Piper dictates the tune. When it was difficult, even when the national body could not oblige us with funds for the national rally here, the magic was done by somebody.”

Additionally, he exhorted the former governor of Rivers State to join the APC immediately in order to benefit from his efforts to elect Tinubu president.

“Our demand is that nobody should rob Peter to pay Paul. Our own share of the booty given to us should be handed over to His Excellency Nyesom Wike. 

“We are confident that as soon as it gets to him, he knows those who worked for Tinubu, and it will get to us. 

“It is only natural, that is how it should go, ” he added. 

In response, he said that the PDP’s Atiku Abunakar’s aide’s claim that Wike was not poisoned but rather had consumed too much alcohol was an act of disdain on the part of the party leadership.

According to him, “The leadership of the PDP in Nigeria does not appreciate the influence and pedigree embedded in Wike. 

“A man goes to thank God for surviving poisoning and somebody said it was not poison but as a result of excessive alcohol. 

“It does appear to us that the PDP does not know what they have in Wike. So we are asking and calling on Wike to come over to Macedonia and lead us.”