Breaking News: Appeal Court restores Rep member sacked over certificate forgery
The court of appeal has reversed the sack of Mukhtar Umar Yarima, member representing Tarauni Federal Constituency, in the green chamber under the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP.
On August 11th, the election of Mr Yarima was invalidated by the National and State House of Assembly elections petition tribunal in Kano.
The Justice I.P. Chima-led tribunal had declared Mr Yerima ineligible for presenting a forged copy of his primary school certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The tribunal had held that Yerima’s defence that he had made a change of name in 2022 did not hold water having been using three (Umar Mukhtar Zakari) names on his International passports since 2009 while his primary school certificate still bears Umar Mukhtar.
It also held that the said primary school, Hausawa Primary School, has disown the certificate tendered by the lawmaker.
However, the appellate court in their ruling on Saturday, disagreed with the tribunal, saying the tribunal had failed to establish a case of forgery and that forgery must be proved beyond every reasonable doubt.
The court further said that it is not enough for an institution to issue a disclaimer denying the issuance of certificate but the accuser must be able to present two documents which must include the supposed authentic certificate and the alleged forged certificate.
