Court Dismisses Certifcate Forgery Case against House Member – TheNigerialawyer

Justice C. O. Agbaza of an Abuja High Court sitting in Jabi,
Abuja, has dismissed a certificate forgery suit brought against a
House of Representatives member for Ajaokuta Federal Constituency
of Kogi State, Hon. Lawal Mohammad Idirisu for lacking in
merit.

Justice Agbaza, in a ruling delivered dismissed the suit on the
grounds that it was caught up by the Fourth Alteration of the 1999
Constitution.

A House of Representatives aspirant, Yusuf Balogun, had shortly
after the primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) held in
October, 2018, approached the court to challenge the emergence of
Idirisu as the APC candidate for the Ajaokuta Federal
Constituency.

The plaintiff sought the nullification of Idirisu’s candidacy on
the grounds that he was not qualified to vie for the position
having not met the requisite academic qualification.

In an originating summon filed at the FCT high court on January
17, 2019, Balogun prayed the court to nullify the candidacy of
Idirisu over alleged forgery of National Diploma (ND)
Certificate.

But Idirisu, in a notice of preliminary objection argued by his
lawyer, M.S. Ibrahim, urged the court to dismiss the suit on the
grounds that it was stature barred and constituted gross abuse of
court processes.

He contended that same certificate forgery case had already been
adjudicated upon in 2015 and 2019 by both the Federal High Court
and Court of Appeal.

Ruling on the preliminary objection, Justice C.O. Agbaza,
berated the plaintiff for filing the suit out of time and in
contravention of established law, especially the Electoral Act
2010.

In the 15-page ruling, the court held that the suit was not only
stature and time barred, but it has also severally been litigated
in different courts of cognate and higher jurisdictions and as
such, an abuse of court process.

The Judge, while dismissing the suit, described the action of
the plaintiff as “judicial rascality” as his suit “lacks leg to
stand upon”.

It would be recalled that Hon. Aloysius Okino Adeiza of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had in 2015 challenged the
qualification of Idirisu to contest the House of Representatives
election, but lost the suit at both the tribunal sitting in Lokoja
and the appellate court.

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