Counsel to Prof. Steve Ugbah of ACN on Thursday tendered three WAEC certificates purportedly owned by Gov. Gabriel Suswam at the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in Makurdi.?
?The lawyers, led by Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), tendered the certificates to prove allegations of certificate forgery against Suswam. The certificates were also accompanied by a police report.?
?Ugba had told the tribunal that the governor was wrongfully returned by INEC as the winner of the April 2011governorship election, claiming certificate forgery as one of his grounds.???
?At the continuation of hearing, Akeredolu insisted that the tribunal should give judgment in favour of his client.
?Opposing the motion, lead counsel to Suswam, Mr Damian Dodo (SAN), argued that the motion was an abuse of court process and urged the tribunal to dismiss it.?
?Dodo maintained that a similar motion brought by the petitioner in 2011 before the former panel was quashed.?
?He explained that the petitioner who appealed against the verdict of the tribunal also lost at the appellate court.?
?Dodo argued that the tribunal lacked the powers to give judgment based on pleadings alone, stressing that it had to hear evidence of proof from witnesses.?
?Counsel to PDP, Chief Solo Akuma, who also urged the court to dismiss the motion, said it was an attempt by the petitioner to prevent the trial of the case.?
?Ccounsel to INEC, Jibril Okutepa (SAN), also opposed the motion and described it as frivolous.?
Okutepa pointed out that neither the Nigerian Constitution nor the Electoral Act supported such motion.?
The Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Halima Mohammed fixed Feb. 13 for ruling on the matter.
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