A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, yesterday, upheld the verdict that removed Ifeanyi Ubah, senator representing Anambra South and candidate of the Young Peoples Party (YPP) from the Senate over allegations of certificate forgery.
Justice Bello Kawu, in a fresh ruling by the court on the
matter, dismissed Uba’s application on ground that it lacked merit.
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The Judge also refused to grant Ubah’s request to set aside
the earlier order made in a judgment delivered by the court on April 11, last
year.
The court had in the April 11 judgment, sacked Ubah for
allegedly submitting a forged National Examination Council (NECO) certificate
to contest the February 23, last year’s election.
Justice Kawu ordered the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Ubah, while a
fresh one should be issued to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), Obinna Uzoh, who was second to Ubah in the poll.
The suit, marked CV/3044/2018, was filed by a registered
voter in Anambra State, Anani Chuka.
Ubah had filed a stay of execution against the court’s
nullification of his victory in the election, claiming that he and his legal
team were not served with the court proceedings and notice of hearing of the
suit.
On December 4, last year, the court ordered all parties
involved in the suit, including the INEC, to maintain status quo, pending the
hearing of Ubah’s application.
The court also stopped the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan,
from swearing in Uzoh as a member of the National Assembly.
It also dismissed a motion initiated by another claimant to
the PDP senatorial ticket, Chris Uba, to be joined in the substantive suit as
an interested party.
In its reaction to the ruling, rights advocacy group, Human
Rights Writers Association Of Nigeria (HURIWA), described the judgment as “the
greatest disservice to the principle of rule of law and a massive travesty of
justice, given the fact that the court overreached itself and made an order
that is substantially dubious and unsustainable, because the person being asked
to be sworn in was never in the ballot paper.
HURIWA stated that the court has increased the credibility
crises tearing the country’s judiciary apart, because it has just awarded the
senate seat of an election to a claimant that was never in the ballots, vowing
to approach the National Judicial Council (NJC) to demand severe sanctions
against Justice Kawu for bringing the country’s judicial system into disrepute.