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FCT High Court committee recommends sack, demotion of officials over Sen Ubah’s case

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Ifeanyi Ubah risks death row for allegedly diverting N11bn PMS, DSS says

The sack of three officials of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory has been recommended by an investigative committee set up to probe alleged fraud in the handling of the case that led to the sack of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah from the National Assembly.

Ubah, who represents Anambra South Senatorial District at the upper chamber of the National Assembly, was sacked by Justice Bello Kawu of the FCT High Court sitting in Bwari over alleged certificate forgery.

After the judgment in the suit filed by Dr Obinna Uzor, Ubah, petitioned the management of the FCT High Court alleging fraud and forgery of documents used in the suit, while also appealing against the judgment, which was later set aside by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

The seven-man investigative committee headed by the court’s Deputy Chief Registrar, Administration, Madugu Alhaji, reported that it found out that “the entire suit contracted in CV/3044/18 was a fraud and does not exist in FCT High Court record”.

“The purported suit was not assigned by the Honourable Chief Judge and not found on any High Court register except the mutilated register in the processes unit,” the committee added.

Read also: Supreme Court upholds Ifeanyi Ubah’s election

Continuing, the committee said: “The Honourable Chief Judge’s signature on the assignment directive was forged and dates on the receipt of payment, processes were all altered to October 2018 to make the purported suit filed September 25, 2019 look like a pre-election matter.

“The committee discovered that out of the six receipts cross-checked by the Head of Revenue, fourt of them used in the suit were not allocated to the FCT High Court. This means that those receipts were used to perpetrate the fraud.”

It also noted that various allegations of gross misconduct were established against some of the members of staff, recommending the dismissal of the Court Registrar of Court 25, Kingsley Ebibrah, an officer in charge of processes, Michael Uche, and a revenue officer, Michael Felix.

The committee also recommended for demotion by one Grade Level, a Registrar of the Bwari Division of the FCT High Court, Ibrahim Ya’u, who is on Grade Level 14, the Court Bailiff of Court 25, Abiodun Kolade, who is of Grade Level 7, and a Commissioner of Oath, Ishaku Umar, who is of Grade Level 12.

In his petition to the Chief Judge of the FCT, Justice Ishaq Bello, Senator Ubah, through his counsel, Chukwuemeka Nwuigwe, contended that the fraud perpetrated in the case had caused him unprecedented injustice.

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