A
Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the service of court papers on
the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen.
Mohammadu Buhari, a fresh suit seeking an order disqualifying him from
participating in the February 14 poll.
Already, there is a
pending direct criminal complaint against Buhari before a Federal
Capital Territory Magistrate’s Court in Abuja asking the court to direct
that the former Head of State “be brought to book” for allegedly
claiming on an oath that he had a certificate he did not obtain.
Justice
Adeniyi Ademola who is presiding over the fresh suit on Monday made an
order of substituted service on Buhari and the Independent National
Electoral Commission, who are the two defendants in the suit.
The court fixed February 9 for the hearing of the suit.
The
plaintiff, Max Ozoaka, wants the court to disqualify Buhari from
participating in the election for failing to accompany his form
submitted to Independent National Electoral Commission with all relevant
academic credentials.
He contended that the INEC FORM CF 001
submitted to INEC by the APC candidate was incomplete and therefore
urged the court to declare the form as “not in conformity with the form
prescribed under the Electoral Act.”
He further stated that the
failure of Buhari to accompany the INEC Form with evidence of his
educational qualifications and evidence of his birth certificate or
affidavit of declaration of age had altogether rendered the form
inchoate.
Ozoaka, in a supporting affidavit to the originating
summons, stated that the INEC Form submitted by Buhari did not meet the
requirements under sections 31(1)(2) & (3), and 31(
of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).
He
also faulted some pieces of information contained in other documents
attached to the form, including Buhari’s voter card which described the
presidential candidate as a public servant.
The plaintiff
urged the court to declare the voter card, the photocopy of which was
attached to INEC Form CF 001, was false on the grounds that Buhari was
not a public servant as of when the voter card was issued.
In
the suit marked, FHC/ABJ/CS/14/2015, filed by Max Ozoaka, the plaintiff
raised eight questions for the court’s determination and prayed for
among others, an order disqualifying Buhari from contesting or
participating in the election.
The plaintiff queried the
authenticity of the statement of result or result sheet presented by
Buhari on the grounds that it was bearing ‘Mohamed’ Buhari as against
‘Muhammadu’ which is the real name of the APC presidential candidate.
0 comments:
Post a Comment