The governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Enugu State, Mr Chijioke Edeoga, told the election petition tribunal sitting in Enugu on Friday that he will call 36 witnesses to testify against Governor Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party to prove his certificate forgery.
Mbah, who was declared the winner of the March 18 governorship election in Enugu State by the Independent National Electoral Commission, is facing a mounting challenge from the Labour Party candidate, Edeoga, over his alleged forgery of the National Youth Service Corps discharge certificate presented to the electoral umpire.
Edoga is praying the tribunal disqualify Mbah over the alleged NYSC certificate forgery.
During the resumed sitting of the tribunal on Friday, the petitioners, through their counsel, Mr M. J. Numa, told the panel that they intended to call 28 witnesses as a whole within their control and eight subpoenaed witnesses.
Numa further told the tribunal led by Justice K. M Akano that they would require a period of five weeks to call the witnesses and had agreed that the witnesses within their control would need 15 minutes for cross-examination.
He added that they had taken care of the interpreter as they would schedule the process.
Responding, counsel to Mbah and the PDP, Mr Wole Olanikpekun and Mr Tochukwu Maduka, respectively, argued that the FCT High Court had resolved the issue of alleged certificate forgery as there was a leave of appeal and that Sections 177 and 182 of the constitution had settled the matter.(PUNCH)