The candidate of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Alex Amujiogo, had accused the governor of forging his credentials.
By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, on Friday failed to show up at the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to defend himself on a certificate forgery allegation.
The candidate of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Alex Amujiogo, had accused the governor of forging his credentials. This led to the tribunal ordering a substituted service of a subpoena on Mbah through his lawyer to appear on Friday, June 23, 2023.
However, the Governor failed to show up at the tribunal.
Protesting the absence of the Governor, 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.”
Amujiogo said he expects the tribunal to decide on how to address the refusal of the Governor to respect its summon.
However, counsel to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Anthony Ani, while reacting to the development, said the petitioner did not comply with the provisions of the law while serving the subpoena.
According to him, the Governor will to appear when the petitioners do the right thing.
“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 said.
He further maintained that in filing a case, Order 3, Rule 4 of the Federal High Court Rules should be served to the witness one is subpoenaing with Form 1A explaining that form 1A mandates the witness to file witness deposition on oath, and then serve the witness one is expecting with their pleadings.
The Justice K. M. Akano-led tribunal adjourned the case to June 24, 2023, for the 1st respondent (the Independent National Electoral Commission) to open its defence.