Justice Adeniyi Ademola of a Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Christian Abah for Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives.
In his judgement in the suit challenging Abah’s eligibility to stand for the election, Justice Ademola held that the allegation of certificate forgery levelled against Abah by the plaintiff, Hassan Saleh, was established to be true.
In the suit, Abah was accused of forging an Ordinary National Diploma certificate in Accountancy, purportedly obtained from the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi in 1985.
Justice Ademola said his findings revealed that an earlier judgment of the National/State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi, Benue State, delivered on September 6, 2011, and a letter by the Registrar of the polytechnic, Suleiman Buba, affirmed that the certificate presented by Abah to the Independent National Electoral Commission was forged.
The court ordered the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, to immediately commence prosecution of Abah for forgery and perjury.
Abah, who is of the Peoples Democratic Party, had earlier been declared unopposed and elected being the only candidate presented for the March 28, 2015 election.
The court in his judgment declared all the votes that accrued to him in the Peoples Democratic Party’s primary held on December 6, 2014 as wasted and also declared Saleh, who came second, as the winner of the primary.
He ordered INEC to issue a fresh certificate of return to Saleh.
The court also ordered the incoming Speaker of the 8th National Assembly to swear in Saleh as the member representing Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency of Benue State.
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