Alleged forged certificate: Anxiety as Gov. Abdulrazaq, Atunwa know fate tomorrow

There appears to be anxiety in the air as the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal will tomorrow deliver judgement, on a suit involving the state Governor AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq and the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hon Razak Atunwa in the last general election.

Atunwa and the PDP had approached the Tribunal challenging the authenticity of the Secondary School Certificate presented by Abdulrazaq to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The petitioners through their counsel, Wahab Bamidele held that the certificate was forged and by implication, Abdulrazaq lacks the veracity to contest the poll.

However, the legal battle between the duo at the Tribunal will come to end following the verdict that will be handed down by the 3-man panel of judges, chaired by Justice Bassey Efiong.

The two parties in the suit and loyalists of Abdulrazaq and Atunwa are eagerly awaiting the verdict of the judges over the matter.

The Tribunal will determine first whether it has jurisdiction to entertain the issue raised by the petitioners. It will also determine whether the petition is competent or not as claimed by the respondents.

Respondents in the case are INEC, represented by Rowland Otaru SAN, Governor Andulrazaq who is being represented by Akin Olujimi, SAN, among others. At the last hearing, the parties involved in the matter presented their final written addresses even as they canvassed their positions.

The addresses were however adopted by the election panel.
The petitioner counsel, Bamidele called on the tribunal to hold that Abdulrazaq was not qualified to run in the election based on his alleged forged certificate.
The PDP’s candidate, who had listed several witnesses for the case, only called the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to testify in
the matter.

In its testimony, however, WAEC said, Abdulrazaq wrote the examination and had his certificate issued to him as Razaq A.R, the same name he used for the exam.

WAEC, which was represented by Olorunsola Victor, a senior examination officer, had also told the tribunal in one of the hearings that at least 31 other candidates also had their names abbreviated in the same year.

Counsel to the All Progressives Congress, Akin Olujimi (SAN), had prayed the court to dismiss the petition, pointing out that there was procedural here say in the application.