Court nullifies Adamawa Rep-elect’s election over forgery

By Andrew Orolua, Abuja

The Federal High Court, Abuja on Friday, sacked Abdulrauf Modibbo as member-elect under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) representing Yola South/Yola North/Girei Federal Constituency of Adamawa state.

Justice Inyang Ekwo nullified Modibbo’s election while delivering judgment in a suit filed by an APC aspirant, Mustapha Usman, challenging the election of Modibbo as the winner of the APC primaries held on October 7, 2018, in Yola.

Usman had dragged Modibbo to court after the general election, accusing of age falsification and as such was ineligible to contest the APC primaries and therefore, prayed the court to disqualify Modibbo as the APC candidate.

He joined the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as defendants in the suit.

But in his ruling, Justice Ekwo declared that Modibbo was unqualified to contest the APC primaries as well as the National Assembly election, holding that Usman was the lawful winner of the APC primaries and candidate of the party.

He further ruled that Usman had successfully proven beyond all reasonable doubt that Modibbo falsified his age severally in order to contest the election, asserting that the plaintiff proved that Modibbo submitted the forged certificates for the purpose of contesting the APC primaries.

Similarly, the court held that Modibbo was a serving National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member when he contested the primary election, adding that the action breached Section 4 of the NYSC Act 2004.

“A person who is a lawbreaker cannot be a lawmaker, this illegality is one that cannot be wished away,” the judge said and declared that following the disqualification of Modibbo, the litigant who polled the second highest votes at the APC primary for Yola South/Yola North/Girei Federal Constituency was the lawful winner.

Justice Ekwo thereafter, gave an order directing the APC and INEC to replace Modibbo’s name with that of Usman as the lawful candidate of the APC for the federal constituency.