Kebbi: ‘You Don’t Need Secondary School Certificate To Become Governor’ — Appeal Court Affirms Idris’ Election

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has affirmed the election of Kebbi State Governor, Nasir Idris, of the All Progressives Congress(APC).

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced Idris of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the guber poll held on March 18.

Dissatisfied, General Aminu Bande (rtd) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) filed a petition claiming that the governor’s victory was marred by malpractices and non-compliance with the Electoral Act. Bande also claimed the APC candidate forged his senior secondary school certificate.

The petitioner presented over 50 witnesses at the Tribunal.

But the Tribunal chaired by Justice Ofem I. Ofem dismissed the petition for lack of merit.

The PDP candidate moved up to the appeal court seeking an order setting aside the judgment of the Tribunal.

On Friday, a three-man panel of the Appeal Court, presided by Justice Uzo Ndukwe-Anyanwu held that the Tribunal was right to have struck out the certificate forgery allegation raised by the petitioner against the governor.

The judge said, “disqualification of a candidate on grounds of false information is a pre-election matter that ought to have been ventilated at the Federal High Court, not the Tribunal.”

The appeal court also observed from evidence presented that the governor attended Sultan Abubakar College, Sokoto, but did not graduate from there while the PDP claimed he graduated from the school.

The appeal court further held that there’s no Section in the 1999 Constitution stating that one must graduate from a secondary school to be eligible to contest for a governorship election.

“A person needs not obtain a certificate of a secondary school, mere attendance of a school will suffice,” the appeal court declared, adding that the PDP failed to prove its allegation of over voting in the poll.

“On the whole, this Appeal is void of merit and is accordingly dismissed,” the court of appeal said in a unanimous decision.