The academic qualification of the 2023 governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna State, Hon. Isah Mohammed Ashiru is now a matter of dispute at a Kaduna High Court.
The suit is listed for hearing on 15th November.
A former PDP governorship aspirant, Prof Mohammed Bello, who has since decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC), is claiming that the GCE certificate presented by Ashiru as qualification for the governorship election does not belong to him.
Bello, who is the defendant in an action for defamation instituted by Ashiru, is reinforcing the earlier allegation he made against the PDP candidate to the effect that he had no school certificate, which formed the basis of the defamatory action before Justice Edward Andow, also of Kaduna High Court.
In a litigation reminiscent of the suit that led to the voiding of the 2019 Bayelsa State governorship election won by David Lyon of the APC as a result of certificates presented by his running mate, Dr Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, the Kaduna Court is being asked to hold that the Ashiru presented a false certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) based on conflict of names in his certificates.
In his statement of claims, the plaintiff, Ashiru, is seeking N100 million damages amounting for alleged damages suffered as a result an interview granted by Bello accusing him of forgery and presenting a false certificate to INEC.
Led by his lawyer, Ashiru averred that Bello, at a press conference and in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, made disparaging allegations to the effect that his (Ashiru’s) GCE O’Level is forged.
Ashiru said that the said words were defamatory in their plain and ordinary meanings and had therefore thoroughly disparaged his reputation as a governorship candidate and an upright and responsible citizen who has built his good name overtime.
He presented to the court copies of a 1980 GCE O’Level certificate, diplomas from the Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic, Kaduna Polytechnic and a master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration from Bayero University Kano, among several certificates, arguing that the allegation of forgery against him by the defendant was false and maliciously aimed to lower his acceptability among the electorates of Kaduna State.
Ashiru also stated that Bello made the statements maliciously “in that it was meant to advance the defendant’s relevance and acceptance in his new political party (APC), while affecting the plaintiff’s reputation negatively, thereby diminishing his chances of becoming Governor of Kaduna State.
He therefore urged the court that, apart from an order compelling the defendant to pay the N100 million damages, further orders compelling him to retract his defamatory/libelous statement by publishing retractions in the social, print and electronic media and a perpetual injunction from further defamatory utterances were required.
Bello, a former PDP governorship aspirant, now a leader in the APC, pleaded justification and fair comment, insisting that the plaintiff was not entitled to any damages for statements that were true and factual.
He insisted that the plaintiff not only presented false school certificate to INEC but also lied severally in the INEC form CFOO1 in almost all the answers he provided to questions asked, and deposed to an oath purporting the said false answers to be true.
He pointed out that the 1980 GCE claimed by the plaintiff displays the name of Mohammed Ashiru different from all other certificates which display Isah Mohammed Ashiru or several other variations which are not and cannot be said to be the same with the name displayed in the GCE O’ Level he submitted to INEC as his own.
He said the plaintiff presented no evidence to INEC or in the documents pleaded before the court that he was indeed the same person in the subsequent certificates and in the forms submitted to INEC which shows different variations of the names Isah Mohammed Ashiru or Ashiru Mohammed Isah or Mohammed Isah Ashiru or Isa Mohammed Ashiru or Isa M Ashiru or Isa Ashiru.
He maintained that in the absence of an affidavit or any other evidence to draw a nexus between these names, the court must hold that Ashiru cannot be said to be the same person referred to as Mohammed Ashiru captured in the 1980 GCE O’Level presented to INEC and therefore an assertion that he has no certificate cannot be defamatory.
Relying on several precedence, including the recent case of PDP vs Degi-Eremienyo, the defendant maintained that it was already settled in law that there is evidence of fraud when the names in documents purportedly belonging to one person are varying and are conflicting.
In PDP vs Degi-Eremienyo, the Supreme Cour held that Lyon’s running mate, Degi-Eremienyo had forged his certificates because of variations in the names of the various documents he presented.
The Kaduna case has been adjourned to 15th November.
