BREAKING NEWS !!!!
By EMMANUEL IRIOGBE,Abuja
There are fresh move to disqualify President Muhammad Buhari from contesting the February, 2019 Presidential election.
This is because there is a subsisting suit at an Abuja High Court urging the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to disqualify candidate Buhari on the grounds that he lied in his submission concerning his educational qualification to the electoral body.
The plaintiffs in the case, Mr Kalu Agu, Labaran Ismail and Hassy El-Kuris, in their suit filed before Justice Ahmed Mohammed allege that the president lied in his form CF 001 submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) regarding his educational qualifications and certificates.
According to reports, when the matter came up for mention on Wednesday, U.C. Ndubisi, counsel to the plaintiffs, who was holding brief for Mr Okpai Ukiro, informed the court that the matter was for mention. Ndubisi told the court that all the defendants had been served with the processes, and that the president filed an application asking for an extension of time as well as a preliminary objection to the originating summons. He, therefore, prayed the court for some time to enable him respond to the applications. The suit, which was filed on behalf of the plaintiff by Ukiro, has the president as the first defendant, APC as second defendant and INEC as the third defendant.
The plaintiffs want the court to determine “whether having regards to the information in the affidavit contained in Buhari’s INEC form, CF 001 regarding his educational qualification/certificate, he has submitted false information to INEC “Whether from the facts and exhibits contained in the affidavit in support of the originating summons and having regards to Section 31(5)(6) of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended, Buhari is disqualified from running for the office of president in the 2019 general elections “Whether Buhari, having submitted false information to INEC, the APC can validly present him as its candidate for the office of president in the 2019 general elections.”
Recall that the president hired about 14 SANs for this same case in 2015 and a bribe was said to have been offered to withdraw the case when the President enjoyed goodwill from Nigerians who were of the opinion that he was going to perform.
This good will has since been frittered away with the citizens groaning amidst abject poverty and moral low concerning the fight against insurgency.
The case has been fixed for hearing on January 21, 2019, while Mohammed also ordered that hearing notices be served on APC and INEC.