April Election: IG Tells Court Senator Uba-Igbeke Forged Documents
ABUJA, May 04, (THEWILL) – A Federal High Court in Abuja has been told that Senator Alphonsus Uba-Igbeke (Anambra North Senatorial District) forged documents he submitted to the honourable court to obtain the favourable judgement that cleared him as candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the National Assembly election held in April.
The Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Hafiz Ringim in a counter affidavit to an application filed by Uba-Igbeke, who is sought protection from the court to bar the police from arresting him, said the police wants to prosecute the senator for forgery.
THE IG’s counter-affidavit was deposed to by a police officer attached to the Legal/Prosecution Section of the Force Criminal Investigation Department, Mr. Jonah Wutu.
The police alleged in its deposition that the senator altered the result of the primary conducted by his party in Anambra North to shortchange Mr. John Emeka Jnr. who polled 1,156 votes whereas Uba-Igbeke polled a paltry 74 votes.
Uba-Igbeke had claimed that he polled I, 156 votes in his affidavit and obtained his judgement from the Justice Abdul Kafarati court based on the alleged false deposition.
But in a swift reaction to the court’s judgement, Mr. Emeka petitioned the Inspector General of Police, who ordered an investigation where it said it discovered that Uba-Igbeke had forged documents. The senator has since refused to appear before the police for questioning and instead, sought the court’s protection of his fundamental human rights.
The 22-page counter-affidavit obtained from the court by THEWILL states as follows:
“I Jonah Wutu, male, adult, Christian, Nigeria citizen and a police officer attached to the Legal/Prosecution Section, FCID, Area 11, Louis Edet House, Force Headquarters, Abuja, do hereby make oath and state as follows:
“That the Applicant (Uba-Igbeke) along with one John Emeka Junior and four others contested the PDP primary elections into Anambra North Senatorial District on 10/01/2011.
“That the applicant failed woefully having scored only 74 votes against John Emeka Junior’s 1,156 votes.
“That INEC official monitored the primaries and wrote a report which confirmed John Emeka junior won the primaries.
“That the said John Emeka was duly returned as the PDP candidate to contest the April elections in his presence and knowledge.
“That the applicant (Uba-Igbeke) was not satisfied with his failure at the polls.
“He proceeded to alter the figures by allocating higher figures to himself and lesser to the John Emeka Junior i.e. 1,173 and 156 respectively.
“That armed with these fraudulent figures, Applicant proceeded to the Federal High Court.
“We started investigation and got facts about the accused/applicant as a sitting senator.
“We then wrote the Clerk of the National assembly to produce him for investigation. We were expecting him to come and state what he knows about the forgery, but to our dismay, we got this civil process.
“He is running away from the long arm of the law. He presented the documents in question to the court by way of affidavit.
“We are ready to charge him to court with forgery under relevant laws including Section 118 of the Electoral Act.”