Governor Peter Mbah has been summoned by the Enugu State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to appear before it today.
The order was sequel to an application summited by the candidate of Peoples Redemption Party, PRP, Christopher Agu, through his counsel, Alex Amujiogo.
In court, PRP candidate is attempting to have the results of the state’s March 18 governorship election, in which Peter Mbah was declared the winner, overturned.
In addition, he asserts that Mbah was ineligible to run for office because, among other things, his National Youth Service Corps, or NYSC, discharge certificate was purportedly faked.
During the Thursday Pre-hearing session, Amujiogu had informed tribunal that Mbah was supposed to be in court as a subpoenaed witness. He added that, based on the bailiff of the tribunal’s affidavit, it had been challenging to serve Mbah the summons.
Amujiogu then filed a motion asking the tribunal to permit Mbah to receive the summons through his attorney in lieu of regular serve.
However, three respondents—the Independent National Electoral Commission, Governor Mbah, and the Peoples Democratic Party—opposed his application on the grounds that it should have been presented in the form of a motion during the pre-trial hearing, accompanied by an affidavit. However, the panel disregarded their submission.
Justice K. M. Akano, the tribunal’s chairman, granted that the subpoena be served on Mbah through his counsel and that he should appear before the tribunal on June 23.
Meanwhile, an official of the NYSC, Barr Aliu Muhammed, appeared on behalf of the director-general of the corps during Thursday’s hearing. He however could not testify on whether Mbah’s alleged forged NYSC discharge certificate was issued by the agency, citing that an order of a Federal High, Abuja, was inhibiting them from tendering the disclaimer the corps made against Mbah’s certificate.