An Abuja Area Court in Karmo on Friday dismissed the case of certificate forgery filed against Rep. Ahmed Ndakene, lawmaker representing Idu/Moro/Pategi Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.
Ndakene was arraigned before the court after a direct criminal complaint over his alleged breach of Section 88(1), 89(3) and 109c of the Administrative Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.
The complainant, Mahmud Babako, a candidate of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the election in which Ndakene emerged as winner on the platform of All Progressive Congress (APC), alleged that he (Ndakene) forged his certificates.
Babako also alleged that the said forged document was presented to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for documentation, prior to the election.
In his judgment, the judge, Ismail Jibril, dismissed the suit.
Jibril held that the decision of the court was based on the police report, which was earlier read by the court clerk.
In addition, the judge discharged the defendant and ordered that a copy of the police report be made available to the counsel representing both parties.
The prosecution argued that the police was mandated by law to investigate the authenticity of the credentials presented and used by Ndakene for the election.
In the report, the police said that they made enquiries on the matter from INEC, West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
The report concluded that WAEC issued the certificate after Ndakene claimed that he lost his original statement of result on Aug. 21, 2012 and WAEC then gave him attestation of result with number: 00002218.
It also said that the Niger State Ministry of Education, Minna confirmed that Ndakene’s name was on the list of students who sat for Nov/Dec. 1990 examination.
Besides, the police report claimed that Ahmed Paiko, the Principal of Government Science College, Kagara, between 2010 and 2016, in an audio-visual recording, confirmed that he was the one who issued and signed Ndakene’s statement of result in 2013.
The report stated that the investigations failed to prove a prima facie case on forgery and giving false evidence on oath against the suspect.
“Ndakene’s certificate and results were genuine, as contained in the documents he submitted to INEC to contest for a seat in the House of Representatives,” the police concluded in the report.
