Tribunal rejects Edeoga’s application to interrogate Mbah on his credentials

The governorship election petition tribunal in Enugu has dismissed an application by Chijioke Edoga, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), seeking to interrogate Peter Mbah, the state governor, over his credentials.

The petitioner was seeking answers to Mbah’s appointments as chief of staff, commissioner for finance, the year he was called to the Nigeria Bar and the institutions he attended.

Delivering a ruling on Saturday, Kudirat Akano, chairman of the tribunal, held that the application was a “fishing expedition”.

The judge said the questions the petitioners were asking were not contained in their petition.

She agreed with Ikechukwu Onuoma, the governor’s counsel, that the application was an attempt by the petitioners to amend their petition based on paragraph 14(1) of the first schedule of the Electoral Act.

She said the essence of interrogatories was to get admission from parties on the matter that had been pleaded to, adding that the petitioner had not pleaded to the matter.

Meanwhile, the tribunal also read its pre-hearing session report alongside the ruling. 

In the tribunal resolution, the petitioner was given seven days to prove its case while INEC has two days to call its witnesses.

The second and third respondents were granted four days to call their witnesses.

Mbah secured 160,895 votes to defeat Edeoga who placed second with 157,552 votes.