Tribunal sacks another NNPP federal lawmaker over certificate forgery

Tamarauemi Ebimini

The National and State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Kano has sacked Dankawu Idris of the New Nigeria’s People Party (NNPP) for forging his secondary school certificate.

Mr Idris represents the Kumbotso federal constituency of Kano State, in the House of Representatives.

The tribunal chairperson, I. Chima, subsequently declared Mannir Danagundi, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the rightful winner of the election conducted on 25 February.

Delivering the judgement on Monday, the judge ruled that the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) certificate tendered by the respondent, Mr Idris, was forged.

The tribunal then ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue the APC candidate, Mr Dan-agundi, with a certificate of return.

Mr Danagundi challenged the election of Mr Idris at the tribunal.

Mr Idris is the second NNPP lawmaker to be sacked by the election petition tribunal over certificate forgery.

In August, the tribunal nullified the election of the member representing Tarauni Federal Constituency, Mukhtar Yarima.

The election of Mr Yerima, a member of the New Nigeria People’s Party, (NNPP) was annulled over certificate forgery.

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC)c challenged the election of Mr Yerima at the tribunal for allegedly forging his primary school certificate.

By Monday’s ruling, NNPP has now lost three seats in the House of Representatives to the opposition APC in Kano.

Two of the seats were due to alleged forgery while the other one was the failure of the candidate to resign from his initial place of work 30 days before the election as mandated by the Electoral Act, 2022.