THE National and State House of Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal sitting in Kano has sacked a member of the House of Representatives representing Tarauni Federal Constituency, Muktar Umar Yarima, over alleged certificate forgery.
Yarima contested for the National Assembly election on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party’s (NNPP).
The three-man Tribunal panel, on Thursday, ruled that the primary school certificate tendered by the respondent, Yarima, was forged and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to declare the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Hafizu Ibrahim Kawu, as the winner of the election.
The court also ordered INEC to issue Kawu a Certificate of Return immediately.
Yarima of the NNPP had been declared the winner of the Tarauni election by Garba Galadanchi, the returning officer for Tarauni Federal Constituency in the general elections.
He scored 26,273 votes to defeat Kawu of the APC, who polled 15,931 votes.
Kawu, a one time member, seeking re-election in the 2023 polls had, however, approached the tribunal and challenged Yarima’s victory on the grounds of forged certificate and cases of irregularities, including over-voting and non-compliance with the electoral act.
Details later…