Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Wada forged school certificate, court rules

By Ibrahim Obansa, Lokoja
27 March 2020   |   4:07 am
A Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja, Kogi State, has ruled that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the last November 16, 2019 general election, Musa Wada, forged his primary school certificate.

Disqualifies PDP candidate for 2019 Kogi guber
A Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja, Kogi State, has ruled that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the last November 16, 2019 general election, Musa Wada, forged his primary school certificate.

Holding that the candidate lied on oath while submitting his Form CF001 to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the election, the court disqualified him.

By the ruling, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did not participate or have a qualified candidate for the November 16 election in Kogi.

The suit filed by Femi Peter, a lawyer and citizen of Kogi, prayed among others for an order disqualifying the PDP candidate from contesting the election because he presented false information to INEC in support of his candidacy.

It was Justice Donatus Okorowo who delivered judgement on the suit.

In proof of his claims, the plaintiff supplied letters written by both Kwara and Kogi states’ Ministries of Education confirming that Wada’s primary education certificate was fake.

Also supplied were sample certificates issued in 1973, which showed clearly that Wada’s certificate bore no semblance in content and character, including serial number, as those genuinely issued by the Ministry of Education, Kwara State, in 1973.

Justice Okorowo, after analysing the evidence provided by the plaintiff, held that the plaintiff proved beyond reasonable doubt that the Wada’s primary education certificate was forged and that he lied in his form CF001 when he answered ‘NO’ to the question whether he had ever presented a forged certificate to INEC.

Consequently, the court, pursuant to Section 31(5) of the Electoral Act 2010, among other reliefs sought, disqualified Wada as candidate in the November 16 2019 gubernatorial election in Kogi.

Meanwhile, Kogi PDP and Wada have expressed intention to appeal the judgement.

The party’s Director of Research and Documentation, Achadu Dickson, stated that the judgement was aimed at distracting the party and its candidate because of the APC’s fear of losing the case at the tribunal.

PDP, however, said it was unperturbed by the court ruling and urged its members to disregard attempts to create disaffection in the PDP.

In this article

0 Comments