Mr. Chijioke Edeoga, the Labour Party’s governorship candidate in Enugu State, told the election petition tribunal in Enugu on Friday that he will call 36 witnesses to testify against Governor Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party to show his certificate fraud.
Mbah, who was declared the winner of the March 18 governorship election in Enugu State by the Independent National Electoral Commission, is under fire from the Labour Party candidate, Edeoga, for allegedly forging the National Youth Service Corps discharge certificate presented to the electoral umpire.
Edoga is requesting that the tribunal reject Mbah for allegedly forging an NYSC certificate.
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During the tribunal’s resumed hearing on Friday, the petitioners, through their counsel, Mr. M. J. Numa, informed the panel that they planned to call 28 witnesses under their control and eight subpoenaed witnesses.
Numa also informed the tribunal, presided over by Justice K. M. Akano, that they would need five weeks to call the witnesses and had agreed that the witnesses under their supervision would need 15 minutes for cross-examination.
He also mentioned that they had arranged for an interpreter as part of the procedure.
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Responding, counsel for Mbah and the PDP, Mr. Wole Olanikpekun and Mr. Tochukwu Maduka, respectively, contended that because there was a leave of appeal, the FCT High Court had handled the question of alleged certificate fabrication and that Sections 177 and 182 of the constitution had settled the case.
Numa stated that there was no record of any appeal on the subject matter and that the court could not speculate on the existence of such an appeal.
He claimed that the tribunal had competent jurisdiction over the subject and urged the court to dismiss the objection.
“177 and 182 of the constitution are mutually exclusive, 182 has more elaboration than 177, so they are two separate provisions that stand on their own. I, therefore, invite your Lordship to decline those invitations,” he said.
Olanikpekun, Mbah’s counsel, stated that they would call 44 witnesses and that it would take 25 days to call all of their witnesses and 15 minutes for cross-examination.
Olanikpekun stated that the petition alleging that the second respondent was ineligible owing to suspected certificate fabrication was not before the panel, noting that the tribunal lacked jurisdiction over the matter.
In addition, PDP counsel, Maduka, stated that there was no application for the purported certificate falsification.
He further stated that the tribunal was not to decide whether or not the FCT High Court has jurisdiction.
He did, however, inform the tribunal that the PDP planned to bring 54 witnesses, including subpoenaed witnesses and forensic specialists.
In response to the parties’ arguments, the panel’s Chairman, Justice Akano, stated that the panel would issue its decision on the alleged forgery.
As a result, the tribunal deferred the case until June 22 to continue the hearing.
