Tribunal reserves judgment in Edeoga’s petition against Mbah

This came after parties in the matter had adopted their final addresses.

Chairman of the panel, Justice Kudirat Akano, said the date would be communicated to the parties.

Edeoga is challenging the declaration of Mbah by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as the winner of the governorship election.

Adopting his final address, Edeoga’s counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, asked the tribunal to hold the position of his clients and grant the reliefs sought by his client.

This, he said, was because it had been established beyond any reasonable doubt that Mbah was at the time of the election not constitutionally qualified to contest, having presented forged certificate of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to INEC.

Awomolo said the first petitioner’s witness was an authority representing the NYSC, director in charge of corps certification, as his evidence proved the matter beyond reasonable doubt, as the certificate was not issued by the NYSC.

“All evidence proved that the second respondent (Mbah) did not collect his certificate.

“There is an incontrovertible evidence that on July 3, 2003, the second respondent (Mbah) became the Chief of Staff of Enugu State to Chimaroke Nnamani.

“The third defence witness (Udeh), who claimed that he gave letters to him, said he did not know if he got his certificate.

“The evidence of the third defence witness (DSS) showed that there is no where it is proven that DSS investigated the process. Exhibit 63 showed that he did not come from the DSS authority; it also showed that the second respondent procured his NYSC certificate illegally,” he said.

He urged the court to cancel the election at 19 polling units in Udenu Local Government due to inaccurate computation, 14 units in Nkanu East and Igbo-Etiti council areas due to over voting.

“The court has the power to order a cancellation in those polling units. I pray to the tribunal to uphold justice.”

However, adopting his address, counsel for INEC, Mr. Abdul Mohammed, urged the tribunal to dismiss Edeoga’s petition with substantial cost.

Mohammed argued that the so-called letter written by the NYSC disclaiming Mbah’s NYSC certificate should not be regarded.

“This document did not meet the threshold of admissibility, as no proof of payment of their certification was ever before the court.

“The second petitioner witness was not the maker of the document. We, therefore, submit that having presented substantial evidence in proof of the allegation that NYSC certificate is forged, there is no document for the court to rely on,” he said.

He added that the import of the testimony of 27 petitioner’s witness, who came before the court that the first petitioner was the aspirant in the second respondent party, therefore, by being an aspirant in that party, the first petitioner could not defect to another political party and contest on that platform.

The counsel for the second respondent, Chief Wale Olanipekun, asked the tribunal to dismiss Edeoga’s petitions for lacking in merit and a mere academic exercise.

He noted that the NYSC certificate was to aid the second respondent of his qualifications.

“NYSC certificate is not a qualification for contesting governorship election. With the evidence of the DSS, you cannot convict a process which has not been proved.

“They have not presented any proof. The petitioner’s witnesses, who came to testify in court, were agents without identities. PW 6,7,9,10,11,12,13,22 and 28 admitted that there were no over voting,” he said.

Counsel for the third respondent, Mr. Alex Izinyon, told the court to dismiss the petition in its entirety, as it was a shadow chasing.

He said the evidence required in the polling units was not agents’ evidence, adding that they derailed from their pleading, as there was no evidence of forgery in the certificate before the court.

Justice Akano said the ruling on the argument of the application for the correction of the petitioner’s final written address would come alongside the judgment.