BY AMEH IDUGAJI, JALINGO – A Federal High Court sitting in Jalingo, on Wednesday disqualified the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Sani Abubakar Danladi from contesting the March 9, 2019 governorship election for Taraba State.
Ruling in the case of age falsification brought against Danladi by Mallam Usman Udi and three others, the presiding judge, Justice Stephen Pam said that Danladi had filed a different date of birth to the third defendant, being the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) different from the one on his WAEC certificate and so declared the information he supplied to the INEC as false.
Justice Pam declared as false the information given by the APC governorship candidate, Abubakar Sani Danladi as to his age in the affidavit in support of his personal particulars in the INEC Form CF001 submitted to INEC.
He further ruled; “Danladi is hereby disqualified from contesting election as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the governorship election for Taraba state slated for 9th March 2019 or any subsequent date to be slated on the ground that the information contained in the Form CF001 as submitted to INEC as to his age is false.”
In its reaction to the court ruling, the Taraba state chapter of the APC, described the judgement as not only Kangaroo but mischievous and comical since there is a subsisting judgement on the matter by the Court of Appeal which is higher to the Federal High court.
The APC which spoke through its State Publicity Secretary, Mr. Aaron Artimas said; “Our attention has been drown to a mischievous and comical judgment by the Federal High Court, Jalingo, on a case filed by some unknown persons parading as concerned citizens, who raised the issue of a purported improper declaration of age by Sani Danladi. The so called concern citizens claimed that there were discrepancies in the declaration of age as contained in Sani Danladi’s SSCE and his statutory declaration of age in the year 2000.
“However, we wish our teaming supporters to note that the issue had been taken to court in 2007 and was subsequently dismissed by the Appeal court. It should also be noted that all judgments passed by the Appeal court supersedes those of the lower courts in the whole country. There are also legal processes involved in the substitution of candidates by INEC and therefore a court judgment does not automatically translate to disqualification to contest an election.
“By this explanation we are calling on all law abiding citizens and APC members throughout the state to remain calm and discountenance or disregard any issue or rumour regarding the eligibility of Danladi to contest Saturday’s Guber elections.
“Legal steps have already commenced to set aside this mischievous judgment which we view as another desperate attempt by agents of the PDP and the state government to escape defeat on Saturday.
All APC members are hereby called upon to continue with their campaigns and preparation towards the election. All our agents are also hereby directed to ensure that they dutifully accompany all sensitive materials and to ensure their distributions to all designated voting areas.”
Meanwhile, there is palpable tension in Jalingo metropolis following the disqualification of the governorship candidate of the APC Alhaji Sani Abubakar Danladi by a Federal High Court sitting in Jalingo.
As at the time of this report, security personnel have been deployed to strategic areas across the city to maintain law and order.
