Kaduna court adjourns Ashiru’s alleged certificate forgery case till Jan 24

A High Court sitting in Kaduna has fixed January 24, 2022 for hearing in the certificate forgery allegation case filed by the Kaduna State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the 2019 general election, Isa Mohammed Ashiru, against Prof. Muhammad Sani Bello for alleged defamation of his character.

Bello, an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, had alleged that “Isah Ashiru does not possess the required or competency to become the governor of Kaduna State because he did not possess the requisite leaving school certificate.”

The court did not sit when the case came up yesterday.

In the suit, Ashiru is seeking:

“An order directing the defendant to retract his defamatory statement by publishing a retraction on social media, print and electronic media with wide circulation reach within Nigeria.

“An order directing the defendant to pay the plaintiff N100 million for defamation of character.

“An order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendant from
publishing any defamatory statement concerning the plaintiff.

Ashiru averred that his reputation was grossly affected by the defamatory statement concerning him.

In the summons, the court gave Bello 21 days to appear before the court or judgment would be given in his absence.

Meanwhile, Garba Sadau, counsel to Bello, said: “We are prepared to defend the case because we have the pre-requisite documents to defend the case.”

Also, a political ally to Ashiru, Dr. Abdulrahman Usman, told journalists that Ashiru had a valid certificate and was ready to prove it before the court to protect his integrity.