Godwin Tsa, Abuja
An Upper Area Court in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has struck out a case of forgery brought against a federal lawmaker, Ahmed Abubakar Ndakene, representing Edu, Pategi and Moro Federal Constituency of Kwara state, in the National Assembly.
In the charge before the court, Ndakene was alleged to have forged forged his academic credentials.
But the judge, Honourable Ismail Abdullahi Jubril, after listening to parties in the case struck out the case.
According to the court in its ruling, the complainant, Mahmoud Bako, failed to establish the case of forgery against Honourable Ndakene beyond reasonable doubt.
The court said police report submitted to the court as evidence failed to prove or link the respondent with any case of forgery.
According to the complainant, Honourable Ndakene was not eligible to contest the election and should be sacked as a lawmaker representing his constituency.
The complainant, having failed to prove allegation of forgery against the respondent, this case is hereby struck out. The respondent is hereby discharged.
Shortly after the ruling was delivered, counsel to the respondent, Alex Ebi Edim, hailed the court for what he described as a sound ruling.
He described the allegations against his client as baseless which the court has also affirmed.
On his part, counsel to the complainant, Ayi Joseph, said his client will appeal the ruling.
According to him, the respondent gave false information on oath which is a punishable under our laws.