ACN member drags Lamido to court over WASC certificate

The Federal High Court, Dutse has been asked to disqualify Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State from contesting the April 16 governorship poll following issues surrounding his West African Senior Schools Certificate allegedly obtained in n1966 from Government College (now Barewa College ), Zaria .

The plaintiff, Abdu Umar Kazaure, is a member of the Action Congress of Nigeria.

In the suit filed on March 25, through a counsel, Ibrahim Umar, the plaintiff joined Lamido, the Peoples Democratic Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission as defendants.

The governor, through his Special Adviser on Media, Comrade Adagbo Onoja, however described the suit as “ridiculous” and claimed that the onus is on the plaintiff to prove beyond reasonable doubt.

In his averment, the plaintiff (Kazaure) clarified that although he is a registered and card carrying member of the ACN, he is “interested to see that only qualified candidates are allowed to contest elections into leadership positions in the country.

He also sought five declarations from the court as follows:

“A declaration that Governor Sule Lamido did not fulfill the condition precedent to being awarded a West African Schools Certificate in 1966 by or through Government(now Barewa) College, Zaria.

“A declaration that by reason of false declaration, the 1st Defendant(Lamido), the 1

st

Defendant has not fulfilled all legal and constitutional preconditions for contesting the election into the Office of Governor of Jigawa State on April 16,2011.

“A declaration that the WASSC which Lamido submitted to INEC as qualifying certificate to contest the governorship election in Jigawa State, which purports to be issued to him as a graduate of the 1966 Class of the Government (now Barewa) College, Zaria is invalid and unmerited having not been obtained through the said college.

“A declaration that by reason of false declaration contained in the 1

st Defendant’s sworn affidavit in support of his personal particulars as a candidate in the April 16 2011 Gubernatorial Election to be conducted by the 3rd

Defendant(INEC), Lamido’s nomination to contest in the said election is null and void.

“A declaration that any gubernatorial election hereafter purportedly conducted for the Office of the Governor of Jigawa State in which the 1st Defendant is a candidate is not a valid election.

The plaintiff asked the court to disqualify Governor Lamido from the April 16 governorship poll.

He sought for the following reliefs:

· An order disqualifying the 1st Defendant (Lamido) from contesting the governorship election slated for April 16, 2011.

· An order that the winner of the PDP’s (2

nd Defendant) direct primary election result and return concluded in January 2011 for the purpose of nominating the PDP’s flag-bearer for the Jigawa State Governorship Election slated for April poll be determined by counting the highest number of valid votes polled by each candidate without reference to any votes polled by the 1st

Defendant.

· An order of injunction restraining the 1

st

Defendant from parading himself and or campaigning as a candidate in the April 16, 2011 Governorship Elections in Jigawa State or any re-run thereof.