By Ebuka Obidinma
The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a certificate forgery suit brought before it against Mr Benson Konbowei, a Senatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for Bayelsa Central Senatorial District of Bayelsa State.
Justice Inyang Okoro in a unanimous judgment of a 5-man panel of Justices held that the law was settled that there must be establish facts for the court to act upon.
The Apex Court held that the certificate forgery, being a criminal allegation, ought to be and must be proven beyond all reasonable doubts before legal action can be taken on it.
Sen. Moses Cleopas another Senatorial candidate from the same party had asked the Apex Court to kick his opponent out of the race on the ground that Konbowei paraded forged Secondary School Certificate purportedly obtained from the West African Examination Council (WAEC).
Cleopas alleged that his opponent used the forged certificate and false information to secure participation in the senatorial primary election of PDP and final clearance from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for nomination.
Although, the appellant described the certificate as worthless mere paper, Justice Okoro who presided over the proceedings said that the appellant ought to have done the right thing by contacting WAEC for verification since it carried the name of WAEC as the issuing authority.
Pleadings by the appellant that the Justices should invoke section 22 of the Supreme Court’s Act to resolve the issue was also rejected on the ground that time for doing so had lapsed.
Faced with the reality, the appellant withdrew the appeal and was subsequently dismissed by the apex court.
Cleopas, a serving senator representing Bayelsa Central in the National Assembly had in May lost his bid to return to the Senate for a second term as he lost the PDP primaries to Konbowei.
Cleopas, also a former state chairman of the PDP scored 22 out of 132 votes while Konbowei, the immediate past Secretary to Bayelsa Government and two-term Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, clinched the party’s ticket with 110 votes.
