Court adjourns perjury suit against Matawalle, dismisses APP’s application

Justice Aminu Bappa-Aliyu of the Federal High Court, Gusau, on Thursday adjourned the alleged perjury suit against the Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, to November 7.

The judge also dismissed the application brought by Action People’s Party (APP) seeking to be joined in the suit for lack of merit.

The APP counsel, Usman Ndaliman, had on October 27, brought the application seeking to be joined as the third claimant in the substantive suit.

The Northern Youth Assembly and one Mannir Haidara had initiated the suit as first and second claimants.

In the substantive suit, the plaintiffs claimed that there were discrepancies in the academic and birth certificates Matawalle presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2023 governorship election.

The case which was earlier filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, was transferred to the Gusau division and listed for mention on October 4.

It was later adjourned to October 19 for further mention.

READ ALSO: Gov Bello refused my advice to negotiate with bandits –Matawalle

When the case came up on October 19, the judge again, adjourned the matter to October 27 for a definite hearing.

At the resumed hearing on October 27, the APP counsel drew the attention of the court to an application filed by his client seeking to be joined in the suit as the claimant.

Other respondents in the suit are the All Progressives Congress (APC), its chairman in Zamfara, Alhaji Tukur Danfulani, and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In suit number FHC/GS/CS/27/2022, the plaintiffs claimed there were three different dates of birth submitted on three occasions to INEC by Matawalle between 2015 and 2022.

The petitioners alleged that the secondary school certificates Matawalle presented to INEC for the 2015, 2019, and 2023 elections were also not the same.

They urged the court to declare a case of perjury and non-possession of a valid minimum secondary school certificate against the governor.

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