Forgery: Court Nullifies House of Rep-Elect's Election, Orders INEC To Return Certificate
SAN FRANCISCO, May 20, (THEWILL) – An Abuja High Court has quashed the election of a House of Representatives elect, Christian Abah, a candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency of Benue State over certificate forgery.
Abah had been declared winner of the March 28, 2015 election by INEC as the only candidate presented by the PDP.
The court which quashed his election on Wednesday also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to return the Certificate of Return issued to him as winner of election.
Ruling in a suit challenging Abah’s eligibility to stand for the election brought before the court, presiding judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, held that the allegation of certificate forgery levelled against him, by the plaintiff, Mr. Hassan Saleh, was proved.
According to the originating summons, Abah was accused to have forged an Ordinary National Diploma certificate in Accountancy purportedly obtained from the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, in 1985.
In his ruling, Justice Ademola said his findings revealed that an earlier judgment of the National/State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi delivered on September 6, 2011, and a letter by the Registrar of the Polytechnic, Mr. Suleiman Buba, affirmed that the certificate presented by Abah to INEC for the election was forged.
In line with the judgement,the court ordered the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, to immediately arraign Abah over forgery and perjury.
The court also declared all the votes that accrued to Abah in the PDP’s primary held on December 6, 2014, as wasted and also declared Saleh, who came second as the winner of the primary as Justice Ademola ordered INEC to issue fresh Certificate of Return to Saleh.
The incoming Speaker of the 8th National Assembly was also ordered to swear in Saleh as the member representing Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency in place of Abah.
Justice Ademola also lambasted the counsel for PDP and Abah in the suit, Mr. Sunday Ameh (SAN),over what the court described as the frivolous applications and tactics to delay the hearing of the case.
The court therefore ordered that the processes filed in the suit and his judgment be served on the Nigerian Bar Association, the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee with a view to taking appropriate sanction against Ameh.
A fine of N450,000 fine was also slammed on the three defendants – the PDP, INEC and Abah in favour of the plaintiff as it berated both the INEC and PDP for promoting “the culture of impunity” by their failure to disqualify Abah from participating in the election in view of the earlier judgement that had since 2011 affirmed that he (Abah) presented a forged certificate.
The plaintiff, Saleh, had earlier filed the case before Justice Gabriel Kolawole and while the case was pending before Justice Kolawole, he filed another one before Justice Ademola and applied to withdraw the one pending before Kolawole.
The defendant’s lawyer, Ameh, however objected to the withdrawal, alleging abuse of court processes.