Imported User:
The Federal High Court sitting in Makurdi on Friday fixed July 11 for judgment in a certificate forgery case brought against Gov. Gabriel Suswam.
Terver Khaki, a defeated PDP governorship aspirant at the primaries, dragged Suswam to court alleging that the governor forged his secondary school certificate.
Khaki also want the court to set aside the primaries on the grounds that it was marred by fraud, describing the primaries as ``charade and stage managed’’.
When the case came up for adoption of addresses, the counsel to Suswam and PDP, Mr Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), argued that the plaintiff failed to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt.
Okutepa, who urged the court to give judgment in his client's favour, submitted that the plaintiff did not tender any certificate to establish which of them was fake or genuine.
He said that the witnesses called by the plaintiff made contradictory statements, which did not amount to any proof to warrant the court to grant any of the reliefs sought.
According to him, the court has no jurisdiction to adjudicate over pre-election matters.
The counsel to INEC, Mrs N.D. Ter and the counsel to WAEC, Mr Godwin Enebeli, adopted the submissions of Okutepa and urged the court to strike out the case.
Mr Samuel Kargbo, the counsel to the plaintiff, said that his client had proved the case as required by law and demonstrated that the primaries were stage managed.
Kargbo urged the court to declare that the election was null and void, saying that there were 278 wards where election did not hold.
He further prayed the court to disqualify the governor and declare his client the winner of the primaries.
