The tribunal rejects Edeoga’s request for Gov. Mbah to be questioned about his qualifications.

The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Enugu has rejected an application made by the Labour Party candidate, Mr. Chijioke Edoga, to question Governor Peter Mbah regarding his credentials.

The tribunal’s Chairman, Justice M. K Akano, had reserved the ruling on Thursday after hearing arguments from the counsels of the involved parties.

In the ruling delivered on Saturday, the Chairman deemed the application as a “fishing expedition.” Justice Akano agreed with the counsel for the People Democratic Party, Tochukwu Maduka, stating that the questions being asked by the petitioners were not included in their initial petition.

Additionally, the Chairman adopted the argument put forth by Mr. Ikechukwu Onuoma, counsel to Governor Mbah, who contended that the application was an attempt by the petitioners to modify their petition based on paragraph 14(1) of the first schedule of the electoral Act.

The Chairman emphasized that the purpose of interrogatories is to obtain admissions from parties concerning matters that have been pleaded. However, in this case, the petitioner had not pleaded to the matter in question.

Alongside the ruling, the tribunal also presented the report of the pre-hearing session, which outlined the issues raised by both parties.

As part of the tribunal’s resolution, the Chairman granted the petitioner a seven-day period to present evidence supporting their case, while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was given two days to call its witnesses.