Okon Bassey in Uyo
There was jubilation in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) fold in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, as the governorship candidate of the party in the state, Pastor Umo Eno, scaled through a law suit over certificate forgery brought against him.
After months of judicial proceedings, the ruling has now calm the tension that developed in the party and the camp of Eno, who is said to be the state Governor, Udom Emmanuel’s preferred candidate.
A PDP governorship aspirant in the state, Mr. Akan Okon, who came second in the party’s primary, had dragged the PDP governorship hopeful to court alleging forging of his West Africa Examination Certificates (WAEC).
But, the Federal High Court in Uyo last Friday evening dismissed the WAEC certificate forgery suit, throwing members and supporters of the party into jubilation in the state.
In his ruling, which featured more than three Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), the presiding Judge, Justice Agatha Okeke, dismissed the case for lack of merit, stating that all the claims by the plaintiff were based on assumptions and speculations.
Accordingly, the court awarded N15million cost against Okon in favour of Pastor Eno, PDP and INEC who were defendants in the case.
The court had earlier held that the plaintiff failed to fulfill the conditions for the use of a document as an evidence.
The court reasoned that the document tendered by Okon did not carry any authentication, as the petitioner admitted to have received it electronically through email and WhatsApp.
The document, according to the court, was not in its original form, and he (Okon) was said not to have proven that he was a member of the organisation (Association for the Advancement of Democracy in Nigeria).
