The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a case brought by Mohammed Barde, the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship candidate in Gombe State, against Governor Inuwa Yahaya, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and two other parties. The court ruled on Tuesday that it would not nullify the governor’s candidacy. Justice Binta Nyako rejected the allegations that Governor Yahaya submitted forged documents to INEC.
In the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1301/2022, the defendants included INEC, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Governor Yahaya. The plaintiffs, represented by their lawyer, Mr. Johnson Usman (SAN), claimed that the governor provided false information in the documents submitted to INEC. Specifically, they pointed out discrepancies in the governor’s employment history. In Form CF001, which he submitted to support his qualification for the 2019 governorship election, he stated he worked with A.Y.U&Co Limited from 1980 to 1990. However, in Form EC-9, submitted for his re-election bid, he claimed to have worked at the same company from 1985 to 2003. The plaintiffs argued that these inconsistencies indicated that the governor had lied under oath.
The plaintiffs sought to disqualify Governor Yahaya from participating in the upcoming governorship election scheduled for March 11, asserting that his actions violated both the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act of 2022. In response, the APC and the governor challenged the competence of the suit through their counsel, Mr. Marshall Abubakar. They requested the court to dismiss the case on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction, arguing that the PDP and its members did not have the legal standing to contest the nomination of a candidate from another political party. The defendants contended that the plaintiffs failed to establish a reasonable cause of action and noted that the suit was statute-barred, as it was not filed within 14 days after INEC published Yahaya’s name as a candidate.
Ultimately, Justice Nyako upheld the defendants’ preliminary objection and dismissed the suit for lack of competence.
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