NAIJA NEWS
A Nigerian lawyer, Kalu Kalu has revealed what the Nigerian Constitution states on the issue of certificate forgery during the electoral process.
According to Kalu, once a candidate of a political party presents a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), it means the individual is not qualified to run for the election.
Kalu’s statement is coming amidst the controversy surrounding the academic records of President Bola Tinubu.
Naija News understands that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar requested the records to aid his appeal at the Supreme Court.
Atiku is contending the victory and legibility of Tinubu to contest in the 2023 election.
Kalu in an interview on Channels TV said a contestant can challenge the outcome of any election where someone with a forged certificate is declared the winner.
According to him, “By the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, precisely Section 137, 1J, once you present a forged certificate to INEC, you’re not qualified to run. That is the highest law we have in Nigeria.
“And after that, we now have the Electoral Act 2022; by Section 134 of that act, a contestant of an election can challenge the outcome of that election on several grounds, and one of the grounds is qualification, which the 1999 constitution has already provided that once you present a forged certificate to INEC, that is, the electoral umpire, you’re not qualified to run.
“And by the document submitted to INEC by Tinubu, which we have certified, Tinubu Presented his purported Chicago State University certificate that was issued to him in 1979, it has generated a lot of controversy.
“Atiku Abubakar went to the US and approached the US court for discoveries to find out whether the purported certificate is genuine or not, whether it was issued by the school or not.”
When asked if the findings showed that the Tinubu attended the institution Kalu said, “It has not been confirmed, even during proceedings the lawyer to the school was asked…
