The subpoenaed witness called by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has today, 20 July, 2023 in Enugu told the Enugu State Election Petition Tribunal that governor Peter Mbah did his youth service in his law firm and was equally issued the last ‘Place of Primary Assignment’ (PPA) clearance letter which was personally signed by him.
The witness, Victor Udeh, had told the court that Mbah was redeployed to his law firm, Udeh & Associates, in Lagos after he was rejected by the Nigerian Port Authority where he was first posted. According to him, in the middle of his service, Mbah wrote to the National Youth Service Corps, requesting for permission to go and complete his Bar Final at the Nigerian Law School and be reinstated later. The NYSC in a letter which was sent from the NYSC Headquarters granted him the permission. He went ahead and completed his Bar Final and was reinstated to complete the remaining months of his service.
He maintained that Mbah served digilently and meritoriously and was issued a final clearance letter from his firm. The witness also affirmed that Mbah went and collected his discharge certificate from the NYSC.
The witness tendered 21 documents which included: Mbah’s call-up letter, letter of deployment to the Nigerian Ports Authority, letter of redeployment to the law firm of Udeh & Associates, monthly clearance papers, last clearance paper, among other documents. The documents were all admitted in evidence before the tribunal.
Responding to a question by the counsel to Labour Party , Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, during cross-examination as to whether he was aware that Mbah was a chief of staff as at July 10, 2003, the witness stated that Mbah never accepted the offer to that position until September, 2003, when he had completed his national youth service.
“Witness, confirm to this tribunal that as at July 10, 2003, Mbah became the Chief of Staff to one Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani who was the governor of Enugu State, Awomolo said.”
The witness responded that the information was not true, saying that Mbah accepted the offer to be a chief of staff to the then governor immediately he finished his National Youth Service programme in September, 2003.
Recall that Mbah’s NYSC discharge certificate has been a subject of controversy since the NYSC denied issuing him any NYSC certificate. But on Wednesday, July 19, 2023, the Department of State Services, DSS, which carried a sting investigation on the matter, told the tribunal that Mbah didn’t forge any discharge certificate, blaming the NYSC for poor record-keeping and misrepresentation of facts.
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