A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court sitting in Jabi, Abuja, has dismissed a certificate forgery suit brought against a House of Representatives member for Ajaokuta Federal Constituency of Kogi State, Mr. Lawal Mohammad Idirisu, to challenge his election.

An aspirant to the House of Reps election Mr. Yusuf Balogun had shortly after the primaries of the All Progressive Congress (APC) held in October, 2018, that produced Idirisu as winner, instituted the suit challenging the qualification of Idirisu, who had won the primaries.

In an originating summon filed at the FCT High Court on January 17, 2019, Balogun prayed the court to nullify the candidacy of Idirisu over alleged forgery of National Diploma (ND) certificate.

But counsel to Idirisu, M.S. Ibrahim, in a preliminary objection, urged the court to dismiss the suit on the ground that it was stature barred and constituted gross abuse of court processes.

He contended that same certificate forgery case had already been adjudicated upon in 2015 and 2019 by both federal high court and court of appeal.

Ruling on the preliminary objection, Justice Charles Agbaza, berated the plaintiff for filing the suit out of time and in contravention of established law, especially the Electoral Act 2010.

Delivering a 15-page ruling on Friday, Justice Agbaza, said the suit was not only stature and time barred, but it has also severally been litigated in different courts of cognate and higher jurisdictions and as such, an abuse of court process.

Dwelling on the judgments of federal high court, Abuja of April 2019 and court of appeal, Abuja in June 2019, Justice Agbaza said the matter was “caught up with Res-judicata” and thus, lacked merit.

The Judge, while dismissing the suit, described the action of the plaintiff as “judicial rascality” as his suit “lacks leg to stand upon”.

It would be recalled that Hon. Aloysius Okino Adeiza of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had in 2015 challenged the qualification of Idirisu to contest the House of Representatives election, but lost the suit at both the tribunal sitting in Lokoja and the appellate court.

Adeiza also dragged Idirisu to federal high court, Abuja and court of appeal, Abuja, in 2019, alleging that Hon. Idirisu forged his ND certificate.

The appellate court in its ruling in June 2019 did not only dismiss Adeiza’s appeal, but it also awarded a cost of N400,000 against him, for engaging in abuse of court process.

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