Sunday Aborisade in Abuja
A coalition of civil society organisations Tuesday asked the Inspector General of Police (IG) to obey the court order and probe the forgery allegation against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Enugu State, Mr Peter Mbah.
He was alleged to have presented a fake certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Media Publicity Secretary of the groups, Cynthia Mbakwe, stated this at a press conference she addressed on behalf of the coalition of the CSOs which included, Total Support for the Rule of Law; Justice Initiative, and Enugu Progressive Forum.
The groups therefore renewed their call on Mbah to withdraw from the forthcoming election since the alleged fake document was attached to the forms he submitted to the electoral body.
They insisted that weeks after establishing the NYSC certificate forgery allegation against Mbah, the governorship hopeful had yet to present his original certificate to prove otherwise.
Instead, the CSOs alleged that the PDP candidate rushed to court to prevent INEC from disqualifying him from the race since the NYSC certificate is not a compulsory requirement to contest governorship election.
They challenged the politician to either publicly present his NYSC discharge certificate or quietly withdraw and submit himself to the police for prosecution.
The groups expressed shock that Mbah had on February 10, 2023, allegedly approached the Enugu State High Court and filed an originating summons in his personal name as first plaintiff and that of the PDP as the second plaintiff against INEC as the sole defendant.
They explained that Mbah in the suit, sought interpretation of several sections of the Electoral Act from the court and several declaratory orders.
They noted that since it made allegations against a PDP governorship candidate in a PDP-controlled state, he (Mbah) cannot secretly go to an Enugu High Court which does not have jurisdiction to interprete the Electoral Act against INEC.
Mbakwe said: “You all will recall that on the 6th of February, 2023, we broke the news to a shocked nation that the PDP governorship candidate, Mr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission a certificate purported to have been issued by the National Youth Service Corps but which we presented a letter from the NYSC that they did not issue that certificate.
“Recall also that in that same briefing and revelation, we had called on Mr. Peter Mbah to explain to Ndi Enugu how he came about that certificate, apologize to Ndi Enugu and honourably withdraw from the race having been found out.
“Where candidate Peter Ndubuisi Mbah has no explanation for this turn of events, we call on him to immediately apologize to our people and withdraw from the race forthwith and hand himself over to the Commissioner of Police Enugu State, confess his crime and be prosecuted.
“We now inform you gentlemen that instead of heeding this brotherly advice, Mr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah hired and gathered a group of people who claimed to be the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Enugu State in a press conference to call us names, cast aspersions and even threaten to petition the Inspector General of Police to investigate us for forging the letter from NYSC.
“They refused to address the issue we raised that Peter Mbah presented to INEC a forged Certificate of National Service.
“Why we looked at the ages of the men gathered in their said press conference, it is not in doubt that they are supposed to be elders but they clearly sold their ages for wads of cash for coming out to make claims they know nothing about but only hearsay from the same man who is accused.
“They only brandished photos of a young Peter Ndubuisi Mbah in an NYSC orientation uniform as their proof that the certificate he presented was genuine and nothing more.
“How laughable for old men to gather and do things children should be reprimanded for doing.
“In line with the public grandstanding of these hirelings of Mr. Peter Mbah, the man through his lawyer also purportedly wrote a petition to the Inspector General of Police to investigate us. He called us mischief makers who are desirous of breaching peace in Enugu, claiming that the letter we got from the NYSC was also forged.
“In response to the above, we wish to state that Mr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah in his petition did not present to the IGP a copy of his NYSC certificate which he claimed was issued to him by the Corps.
“If any person claims there is a fake thing, then that person should present the original. He did not do that because he knows that the copy of the certificate we obtained from INEC was a certified true copy of what he presented to INEC.
“We now therefore challenge Mr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah to make available his own copy of the NYSC certificate in his possession to any civil society organization of his choice to approach the NYSC for verification and that such organization should make their finding public.
“Recall also that in our last briefing, we made available to you a copy of the Direct Criminal Complaint we had already filed and which made it unnecessary for Mr. Peter Mbah to write another petition. We are now pleased to inform you that that our prayers have been answered and the honourable court has directed the police to investigate our allegations.
“The Registrar of the court has also written a letter communicating same to the police authorities and Mr. Peter is hereby informed to respond to the invitation of the police and stop running away.
“It is a court ordered investigation and it must be carried out thoroughly. You cannot run too far.
“By Section 182(1)(j)of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the constitution provides: ‘No person shall be qualified for election to the office of governor of a state if he has presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission.”
