It was double victory for Engr Musa Wada and the PDP as the Supreme court on Tuesday affirmed the decision of the court of Appeal on the use of forensic examinations of INEC documents and subsequently dismissed the appeal of INEC.
A five-man panel of Justices led by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta unanimously held that the appeal in the case of INEC vs Musa Wada, should be dismissed.
The apex court also allowed the appeal of Wada and PDP in another appeal, Engr Musa Wada and Anor vs Femi Joseph.
The five-man panel of Justices held that the pre-election matter alleging forgery and false information over Wada’s primary school certificate, was filed out of time.
The supreme court also held that the judgement of the Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja delivered on March 25, 2020 was a nullity.
It added that the judgment was delivered without jurisdiction and outside of the 180 days allowed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
A Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja, Kogi State, has ruled that the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the last November 16, 2019 general election, Musa Wada, forged his primary school certificate.
Holding that the candidate lied on oath while submitting his Form CF001 to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the election, the court disqualified him.
By the ruling, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) did not participate or have a qualified candidate for the November 16 election in Kogi.
The suit filed by Femi Peter, a lawyer and citizen of Kogi, prayed among others for an order disqualifying the PDP candidate from contesting the election because he presented false information to INEC in support of his candidacy.
Following Wada Musa’s appeal against the judgment, a three-man bench of the Court of Appeal in Abuja led by Justice Ibrahim Saulawa in its judgment on April 21, upturned the lower court’s verdict.
The Court affirmed Musa Wada as the governorship candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party PDP in the November 16, 2019 election in the state.
The appellate court held that it was wrong for the lower court to raise an issue on its own and determine same without hearing the parties.
“Every order made by the trial high court that there was no primary election and that the appellant was not a candidate in the election is hereby set aside”, the court held.
