We Won’t Congratulate Taraba Ministerial Nominee Now –PDP

Following the legal issues surrounding ministerial nominee from Taraba State, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Danladi, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state has said it would not be in a hurry to congratulate the former acting governor till the controversy is cleared.

The party’s publicity secretary Andeteran Irammae stated this in an interview with our correspondent in Jalingo.

“We will hold our congratulatory message for now until Sani Danladi is scrutinised both by the Red Chambers and the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, we all know that he is having issues bothering on his legitimacy to hold office, the matter was decided up to the Supreme Court.

“We are waiting for the law to take its course, the information is already out there and we are waiting to see if there is going to be a review of the nomination or if he is cleared to be inaugurated,” he said.

A High Court sitting in Jalingo, had since 2019 barred the state’s former acting governor, Sani Danladi from holding any public office. The sanction was as a result of alleged certificate forgery and age falsification.

The matter started at the State High Court prior to the 2019 governorship election. The High Court sitting in Jalingo had disqualified Danladi from contesting the election after it was found that he presented a forged document to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

After the judgement at the state High Court, Sani got a stay of execution warrant from Court of Appeal in Yola, though he subsequently lost the case at the Court of Appeal and proceeded to the Supreme Court after the election, where the apex court affirmed the judgement of the lower court confirming that the certificate presented by Senator Danladi to the INEC was fake and forged.

The chief justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Arioola was among the five-man panel of the Supreme Court that delivered the judgment in Abuja on 5th day of July 2019.

Our correspondent further gathered that after the Supreme Court judgment, Sani came back and approached a Federal High Court sitting in Jalingo for judicial review of the case where he was said to have presented a WAEC certificate and declaration of age.

When contacted for clarification, the ministerial nominee Abubakar Sani Danladi did not pick his phone call nor answer the text message sent to him to answer questions and clear the air on his legal position over the matter.

The chairman, Taraba State chapter of the All Progressive Congress APC, Alhaji Ibrahim El-Sudi decline comment on the issues, saying “No Comment.”

Spokeswoman of the party in the state Aeron Atimas confirm that there was a mix up over certificate and age falsification against Danladi, saying the matter was redress at the Federal High Court where he was cleared.