Yola judge withdraws from forgery case against Bindow

The judge of the Yola division of the Federal High Court
assigned to hear a case of certificate forgery against Governor
Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow of Adamawa State has excused himself from
the case.

The judge, Justice Abdulaziz Anka, said Wednesday that for
personal reasons, he could not continue with the case but would
return it to the chief judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja to
reassign it.

“Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done,”
Anka said, reiterating that after hearing from the counsels and
reviewing what had become apparent, he was uncomfortable about
continuing with the case.

The case in question was first filed at the Federal High Court
in Abuja in September last year by a rights group, Global Integrity
Crusade Network (GICN), which claimed in its originating summons
that the governor did not complete his secondary education at the
Government Secondary School, Miango, which certificate he was
using, for which reason the group asked the court to determine the
qualification or otherwise of Bindow for re-election as governor in
the coming general election.

The case was first heard in the Abuja division of the Federal
High Court in October last year by Justice B.O. Quadiri who granted
the plaintiff’s plea for accelerated hearing, but the case was
subsequently transferred to Yola where the first respondent
resides.

Reacting to the withdrawal from the case by Justice Anka and
return of the case to Abuja, the chief counsel to Governor Bindow,
Chief Chris Uche (SAN), told newsmen that his client was ready to
follow the case to anywhere it may be taken.

“As we said in the open court, we are ready for the hearing in
the case to continue, but the judge recused himself from the case
and it is being sent back to Abuja. Wherever they take us, we will
go,” he said.

He added however that the case lacked merit and had no chance of
going far. “From when this case was first filed in Abuja, we raised
the objection that the plaintiff (GICN) is an artificial person who
has no locus standi to institute the case. The plaintiff was not an
aspirant and is not a citizen of Adamawa State and has no business
challenging Bindow as the candidate of the APC for the forthcoming
election,” Uche asserted.

Responding in a separate interview with newsmen, the counsel to
GICN, Edward Omaga, said the Global Integrity Crusade Network is an
advocacy group registered by Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission
(CAC) to carry out its functions for or against persons and
organizations anywhere across the country, and could therefore not
be said to lack locu standi in the suit against the Adamawa State
governor.