Gyang Bere, Jos
A federal high court sitting in Jos, Plateau State, has sacked a state lawmaker, Ibrahim Baba Hassan, over the forgery of a certificate, which he claimed to have obtained from the University of Jos.
The lawmaker, who represents Jos North-North in the Plateau State House of Assembly was dragged to court in 2015 by Abdul Nasir Saleh, challenging the authenticity of his diploma certificate in Business Administration from the University of Jos.
Saleh contested the primaries alongside the sacked lawmaker on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015, where he emerged second.
The presiding judge, Justice Musa Kurya, yesterday, in his judgement, said there was no proof that the diploma certificate submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by Hassan was genuinely obtained from the University of Jos.
Kurya said, based on the direct and oral evidence submitted by the registrar of Unijos before the court, it was true that the certificate presented by the lawmaker to INEC in 2015 was not obtained from the said institution, adding that the evidence given by the registrar was “true and uncontroversial.”
The judge said: “I wonder a person whose diploma certificate is proved to have been forged sitting and making law. I wonder the laws that he will make for the development of his constituency and, by extension, the state as a whole.”
Kurya further in his ruling granted all the prayers sought by the plaintiff.
“That the information that the first defendant possesses a Diploma in Business Administration (Lower Credit) from the University of Jos, Plateau State, which the first defendant stated and supplied in affidavit in support of personal particulars of persons seeking election to office/membership of Plateau State House of Assembly, in respect of Jos North-North Constituency of Plateau State, sworn in the registry of the High Court, on December 16, 2014, to the INEC, is false.
“That the first defendant was not qualified to contest election into Plateau State House of Assembly in respect of Jos North-North Constituency in view of the fact that the information that the first defendant possesses a diploma certificate in Business Administration from the University of Jos is false.
“That the plaintiff is the rightful candidate of the APC in the election into the Plateau State House of Assembly, in respect of the Jos North-North Constituency of Plateau State held on the April 11, 2015, being the only qualified aspirant in the primary election held by the APC to nominate its candidate for the said election.
“An order disqualifying the first defendant as the candidate of the APC for election into the Plateau State House of Assembly.
“An order directing the INEC to accept and recognise forthwith the name of the plaintiff as the legitimate candidate of the APC for the 2015 election into the state House of Assembly for Jos North-North Constituency in Plateau State.
“N5 million being the total legal fees for prosecuting this matter from inception.
“N25 million as general damages; and N150,000 being the cost of filing his action,” the prayer said.