The Federal House of Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal sitting in Kano nullified the election of the candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party, Muktar Umar Yerima,
Yerima, the lawmaker who is representing Tarauni Federal Constituency, at the federal house of representatives, was disqualified over forgery.
The three-man panel, led by JusHouseI.P.Representativesd Yerima’s victory invalid, over the alleged forgery of his primary school certificate, which had been submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Delivering the judgement, Justice I.P. Chima, held that, “After a thorough examination of the evidence presented before us, it has been established beyond reasonable doubt that Muktar Umar Yerima submitted a forged primary school certificate to the INEC. This act disqualifies him from holding the position he was elected to.”
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Hafizu Kawu, had challenged Yerima’s eligibility and presented evidence, proving the forgery allegations against him.
However, the tribunal found in favour of Kawu, highlighting a compelling case of alleged forgery against Yerima.
As a result, the tribunal resolved that the NNPP had no legitimate candidate in the election and declared all the votes cast for Yerima as “wasted votes.”
The court however directed INEC to retract the certificate of return earlier issued to Yerima, as the winner of the February 25 election.
The tribunal rejected Yerima’s argument that,
in his defence, which claimed that he had legally changed his name in 2022, emphasizing that his inconsistent use of multiple names – Umar Mukhtar Zakari – on his passport since 2009 undermined his credibility.
Similarly, the primary school in question, Hausawa Primary School, disowned the certificate presented by Yerima, corroborated the tribunal’s decision to disqualify him.
