- Witnesses clear Kaduna Central PDP candidate of credential forgery
From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna State announced on Monday that it is standing by its Kaduna Central senatorial candidate in the February 25 National Assembly Election, Senator Lawal Adamu.
The Party’s Publicity Secretary in the State, Abraham Albera Kato told Daily Sun via a telephone call that the issue raised in court by All Progressives Congress (APC) against Sen Adamu was a pre-election matter thereby amounting to a wasting of the court’s time.
PDP’s reaction was coming after the key witnesses in the Kaduna State Election Petition Tribunal over the weekend testified in favour of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial candidate, Sen. Lawal Adamu Usman over forged credentials.
The Senatorial Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the District, Sani Abdullahi had petitioned the Tribunal against the PDP candidate for non-compliance with electoral laws and claims of forged educational credentials after losing out in the February 25 National Assembly Election.
Witnesses from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS), and National Examination Council (NECO) cleared Usman as their alumnus while the representative of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) confirmed Senator Usman as the valid candidate.
The petitioners’ case was closed by the court presided over by Justice H.H Kereng and the court adjourned to July 11, 2023, for the respondents’ case.
According to Albera, “the issue they were raising was a pre-election matter so it does not hold any water at all even if it were to be true that the results were forged as desperately alleged by APC.
“At the moment, we have gone beyond that now because they are just wasting their time, that of the court and the public. It is an exercise in futility. So, the party is standing by our senator”, he said.
Also reacting, an Aide to the lawmaker, Muhammed Umar said “Obviously, the APC and its candidates in Kaduna state are on a delusional voyage on the happenings in different tribunals in the state.
“Their desperate attempt to twist the narrative again in the reportage of the Kaduna central senatorial district tribunal proceedings as they are striving to do in that of governorship is another attestation of their hallucination.
“Facts are sacred, truth is universal,” Dingyadi added.
He however urged his principal not to be distracted but to remain focused, courageous, and determined to make laws that better the lots of his constituents and the Nigerian masses as a whole.