The Federal High Court in Jalingo dismissed the certificate forgery suit filed against Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, the APC governorship candidate in Taraba State, yesterday.
The case brought against Bwacha by one of the disgruntled governorship candidates, David Sabo Kente, sought to disqualify Bwacha from running for governor as the party’s candidate.
However, the presiding judge, Bala K. S. Usman, dismissed the case due to a lack of evidence.
Kente has not only taken the party’s governorship candidate to court for alleged certificate forgery, but he is also requesting that Bwacha be barred from running for governor under the party’s banner in the upcoming general elections.
According to the judge’s ruling, the plaintiff and his counsel failed to provide evidence to back up his allegation against the APC governorship candidate, as required by both INEC and the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s amended Constitution.
“Having carefully listened to all parties involved in the matter, the plaintiff lacked proof of evidence to support his case,” said the judge.
Both councils for Bwacha and APC were overjoyed with the ruling, describing it as a thorough demonstration of fair justice in the eyes of the law.
Applauding the court’s decision, Taraba’s APC leadership described the judiciary as “truly the last hope of the common man.”
Speaking through its state chairman, Barrister Ibrahim Tukur el-Sudi, the party urged all supporters to band together and put aside their differences in order to dethrone the PDP in the upcoming elections.
Barrister John Yuwa, counsel to Kente, said he and his team of lawyers would go back to the drawing board and study the judgment before advising their client on the next course of action.
Kente had previously approached the court through his counsel, alleging that the party’s governorship candidate forged some of the documents submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, which disqualified him from participating in the party’s primary election.
