Enugu Tribunal orders Peter Mbah to appear before it over alleged NYSC certificate forgery

Enugu Tribunal orders Mbah to appear before it over alleged certificate forgery

The Enugu State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has ordered Governor Peter Mbah to appear before it tomorrow, Friday, over the alleged forgery of the National Youths Service Corps, NYSC, discharge certificate. This is coming after an application was made by the candidate of Peoples Redemption Party, PRP, Elder Christopher Agu through its counsel, Barr Alex Amujiogo, claiming that Mbah was not qualified to contest the election.

Enugu Tribunal orders Mbah to appear before it over alleged certificate forgery

Present Enugu Governor, Peter Mbah At the resumed hearing, the PRP’s counsel, Amujiogo told the tribunal that Mbah was supposed to be in court as a subpoenaed witness. He, however, said from the affidavit deposed to by the bailiff of the Tribunal, it had been difficult to serve Mbah the summon. Amujiogo then moved an application, urging the Tribunal to grant a substituted service of the summon on Mbah through his counsel. Although the application was opposed by the three respondents, the INEC, Mbah as well as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on the grounds that it was supposed to come by way of motion, supported by an affidavit during pre-trial session, they were overruled by the Tribunal. Chairman of the Panel, Justice K. M. Akano ordered that the subpoena be served on Mbah through his counsel and that he should appear before the Tribunal tomorrow, June 23, 2023. Earlier, the PRP guber candidate during the election, Agu, had also testified before the Tribunal as PW2. An official of the NYSC from the National Secretariat, Abuja, Barr. Aliu Muhammed, who also appeared on behalf of the Director-General of the Corps, tendered an affidavit to the Tribunal, declaring that an order of a Federal High Abuja, was inhibiting them from tendering the disclaimer the Corps made against Mbah’s certificate. The PRP lawyer, Amujiogo told journalists after the Tribunal’s sitting that “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 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, 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.”

Peter Mbah meets Tinubu, pleads for Nnamdi Kanu’s release

Gov of Enugu, Mbah meets Tinubu, pleads for Nnamdi Kanu's release

As the new era of leadership begins in different parts of the country, Enugu State Governor, Barr Peter Mbah, on Thursday, met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, where he discussed his state’s matters and the need to release the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. Mbah while addressing reporters, described his meeting with Tinubu as heartwarming,  and according to him, partnership and collaboration with Tinubu’s administration were critical to actualising his administration’s agenda for Enugu State. He said, “I came and frankly I brought to the President, the warm greetings and best wishes from the government and the people of Enugu state. “But, above all, you may also know already that we made massive campaign promises to the people of Enugu. And we also have expressed a humongous vision. “We’ve taken a bold view of what the new government could achieve in the next four years, in terms of growing our economy from the current levels to $30 billion. “And one of our core governance philosophies is to collaborate and to have partnership; and we have identified the federal government as our core partner. “A lot of people do not know, but we have huge mineral resources in Enugu State. And these resources are sitting under our ground, not being productive. So, we believe with the partnership we’re trying to build with the federal government, we’re able to transform these assets into productive assets. “Of course, you know that the growth level we have proposed is one that is going to be driven by the private sector and private sector wants the ease of doing business; and one of the core indicators of the ease of doing business is security and infrastructure. So, we also had that conversation with Mr. President. “And finally, we also talked about the release of Nnamdi Kanu. You know, that the South East has made a collective demand to have Nnamdi Kanu released. And we basically identified with that and request Mr. President, who in his inaugural address promised the people that he’s going to engender national healing and he’s going to serve with compassion. “So we’ve basically informed him that this would serve as a pointer to his administration’s extension of hands of fellowship to Ndigbo”, he said.

PDP’s Peter Mbah declared governor-elect in Enugu State

PDP’s Peter Mbah declared governor-elect in Enugu State

Peter Mbah, the PDP’s governorship candidate in Enugu, has been declared the winner of the 2023 Governorship polls in the state.

Peter Mbah

Mbah’s declaration as Governor by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, comes following days of controversy over the results from Nkanu East Local Government Area. According to the Returning Officer, Prof. Maduebibisi Iwe, the collation was taken over by the INEC national headquarters in Abuja after those of them in Enugu could not have a common ground. Peter Mbah Mbah polled 160,895 votes slightly above his closest rivals, Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party, who scored 157,552, and Uche Nnaji of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who got 14,575 votes, amongst others.