The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) filed a certificate forgery lawsuit against Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, the governor of Kwara State, but a Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed it for lack of merit and jurisdiction. According to Justice Inyang Ekwo’s ruling, the lawsuit was groundless, unjustified, and a blatant abuse of the court system.
The PDP had sued the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Kwara State Governor, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the first, second, and third defendants, respectively. The party had requested that the Governor and APC be disqualified from the 2023 governorship election in the lawsuit with the file number FHC/ABJ/CS/1324/2022 due to allegations that the Governor used a fake West African Examination Council WAEC certificate to gain candidacy.
The party also prayed for an order of the Court compelling INEC to delist the name of the governor and APC from those cleared for the general elections. However, in his ruling, Justice Ekwo supported the initial defense raised against the lawsuit by Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Prince Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, who was acting on behalf of the governor.
The judge agreed with Fagbemi that Rasaki Atunwa, a former PDP candidate for governor, had brought up the alleged certificate fabrication and perjury in a different lawsuit in 2019, which Justice Bassey Effiong Ikpeme had decided was meritless and dismissed. Because PDP was not a candidate in the primary election that produced Abdulrasaq as the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Justice Ekwo ruled that PDP lacked the necessary locus standi to challenge the primary election.
The judge also agreed with Fagbemi that the PDP was an intruder and a busy body because it had no authority to intervene in the internal matters of the APC. The judge determined that PDP’s lawsuit had no reasonable basis for action because the alleged certificate fabrication had already been investigated and rejected as early as 2019.
In addition, Justice Ekwo ruled that because the lawsuit was filed outside of the legal deadline, it has no life of its own and no foundation upon which to stand.
