Court sacks Borno PDP guber candidate

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja and presided over by Justice Ramat Ahmed, yesterday, sacked Mohammed Imam, the Bor­no State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate.

The judgment followed a suit brought before it by Gam­bo Lawan, who claimed to have won the PDP primaries conducted at the Arewa suites, Abuja in which he won by 185 votes.

Justice Ahmed in the judg­ment, affirmed that the court had the jurisdiction to enter­tain the matter since one of the major reliefs being sought was against a government institu­tion, which is the Independent National Electoral Commis­sion (INEC).

The judge, while granting all the reliefs being sought by the plaintiff (Lawan), also af­firmed the justiciability of the suit brought before it against the PDP candidate, the PDP and INEC.

The PDP, in its affidavit, had claimed that due to the security issue in the state, all its aspirants had conceded to a consensus candidacy.

Overruling the preliminary objections filed by PDP and Mohammed Imam, Justice Ahmed said the claims by the party that it resolved to consensus candidacy and that Lawan’s certificate of return was ‘forged’, were doubtful since the party never filed any criminal proceedings against the plaintiff, and the party’s chairman in the state and the national level never filed any affidavit to debunk the plain­tiff’s case.

He said the court was never availed of any document sup­porting the party’s claim.