The National and State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, yesterday, sacked the member representing Tarauni Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Umar Yerima, over certificate forgery. Yerima was elected into the House of Representatives under the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP.
The three-member tribunal led by Justice I. P. Chima ruled that the primary school certificate submitted by Yakima to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to support his qualifications, was forged. The panel declared the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate, Hafizu Awu, as the duly elected and winner of the February 25 election.
Recall that Yakima was declared the winner of the Tarauni Federal Constituency poll after scoring 26,273 votes to defeat Hafizu Awu of the APC who scored 15,931 votes. But Awu, a one-time member of the House of Representatives, seeking re-election, challenged Yakima’s victory on the grounds of certificate forgery. In his petition, Awu also claimed irregularities, including over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act, marred the election.
The tribunal in the judgement ruled that the NNPP candidate was guilty of certificate forgery. The court also said that the political party did not have a candidate in the election, adding that all votes cast for Yerima were invalid. Consequently, the tribunal ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return given to Yakima.