Toba Owojaiye reporting
The National and State House of Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal in Kano has invalidated the election victory of Muktar Umar Yerima from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
The tribunal has also instructed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to retract the previously issued certificate of return given to Yerima. The petitioner, Hafizu Kawu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), contested Yerima’s eligibility for office.
It should be noted that INEC initially declared Yerima as the winner of the House of Representatives election for the Tarauni Federal Constituency.
However,, the tribunal’s three-member panel, led by Justice I.P. Chima, determined that Yerima lacked the qualifications due to the discovery of a forged primary school certificate.
The tribunal dismissed Yerima’s defense, which claimed a name change in 2022, as untenable. This is because he had consistently used three names (Umar Mukhtar Zakari) on his international passports since 2009, while his primary school certificate still bore the name Umar Mukhtar.
Furthermore, the tribunal found that Hausawa Primary School, the institution that issued the contested certificate, disowned its authenticity. Consequently, the tribunal concluded that the NNPP had no legitimate candidate in the election.