By Christiana Ekpa
Meanwhile, the case filed by the Labour Party (LP) guber candidate, Barr Chijioke Edeoga also came up before the Tribunal.
Edeoga’s pending application was moved before the Tribunal, after which the suit was adjourned for ruling on the application he filed before the Tribunal, as well as a pre-trial report.
One of his counsels, Barr Ifeanyi Ogenyi, who spoke to journalists after the session, said the proceeding was a continuation of the pre-hearing session.
According to him, “Pre-hearing started on 16th June and continued today; the petitioners brought an application, a motion interrogatories, seeking for answers from the second respondent, that is Mr Peter Mbah.
“Interrogatory is a legal questionnaire; it is seeking for answers to those questions.
“And some of the questions raised by the petitioners to Peter Mbah which we are urging the Tribunal that he (Mbah) should answer are: when and where did he serve? When was he appointed as Chief of Staff, the date? When was he made commissioner for finance in Enugu State? We want to know the duration he served.
“Because in his pleading, in his reply to the petition, he told the Tribunal that he was once Chief of Staff to Governor Chimaroke Nnamani in 2003, we want to know the year and the date he was appointed.
“We equally want him to produce before the Tribunal, the letter of appointment as Chief of Staff, the letter of appointment as commissioner for finance under Chimaroke and the institutions he said he attended; we want to have the documents showing that he attended those institutions.
“And the court is to deliver a ruling on that on 24th of June, that is on Saturday, whether he should answer those questions or not.”
“On their own side, they said ‘No’, they are not going to answer those questions; that answering those questions means that we want him to prove our case for us.
“But that is not the position. It is required under the law that where somebody has made volunteered some information, you can seek for further particulars;
“What we are seeking for is further particulars; he should clarify the Tribunal and us information on those issues he raised in his own pleadings.
“On 24th, we will be here for ruling and possibly conclusion of pre-hearing, and after pre-hearing and report is issued, we can now proceed to substantive hearing,” he added.
