Kano guber: Kwankwaso faces legal battle

An aggrieved indigene of Kano State, Hassan Sani  Indabawa, has sued the former governor of Kano State and governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso before an Abuja Federal High Court seeking  an order of the court disqualifying the candidate from contesting the election because of his indictment in 2004 for embezzling state ecological funds while in office.

Joined as defendants in the suit are PDP, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and it’s chairman.

The plaintiff is asking the court to determine “Whether by virtue of Kano State Government White Paper on the report of the Commission of Inquiry into certain activities of Kano State Government between May 29, 1999 and  May 29, 2003 Kwankwaso was indicted and the said indictment was accepted by the Kano State Government.”

If he was indicted, “Whether failure of Kwankwaso in answering questions 6 [a] and [b] of FORM CF 001 to state that he was indicted by a Commission of Inquiry and the Indictment was accepted by Kano State Government amounts to giving false information on oath”.

The plaintiff is similarly asking the court to determine whether if a false declaration is made by any nominee of political party in compliance with the provision of section 31 of the electoral Act 2010 as Amended empowers the court by virtue of section 31 [6] of the Electoral Act 2010 to issue an order disqualifying that candidate from participating in an election.

And whether the FORM CF 001 submitted by Kwankwaso to INEC  read along with the White Paper on the report of the Commission of Inquiry into certain activities of Kano State Government Between May 29, 1999 and May 29, 2003 the court is empowered by the provisions of the Electoral law to disqualify Kwankwaso  from contesting the forthcoming gubernatorial election under the platform of the PDP.

The plaintiff is asking the court for an order that Kwankwaso was indicted by a commission of Inquiry constituted by Kano State Government and it accepted by the state government.

He asked for an order that Kwankwaso has given false declaration in FORM CF 011 for failure to state clearly that a commission of Inquiry set up by Kano state Government indicted him for embezzlement and the indictment accepted by the Kano State government.

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