Today is judgment day in Benue

Ten months after, the governorship election in Benue State remains inconclusive. Today, the Election Petitions Tribunal in Makurdi, the state capital, will deliver judgment. Will the court affirm the victory of Governor Gabriel Suswam or will power shift to Professor Steve Ugbah of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)?
The tribunal chaired by Justice Halima Mohammed has been a theatre of legal war between the governor’s lawyers and ACN’s counsel.
Governor Suswam is walking a tight rope. The opposition party has accused him of using state resources to prosecute his case.
According to INEC’s Returning Officer, Professor Daniel Vershima Uza, Suswam, who contested on the platform of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), won majority of the ballots in 15 out of the 23 local government areas of the state, polling 590,776 votes to defeat ACN’s Ugbah, who polled 499,319 votes.
Senator Daniel Iyorkegh Saror of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), who came third in the race, obtained 9,234 votes. In the election, 13 political parties fielded candidates.
The ACN candidate rejected the poll results. He said that he won the election. Ugbah accused the PDP of using local militia to rig the election in 11 of the 23 local government areas, particularly those that make up the Sankera political division.
As the governorship legal tussle rages, the allegation of GCE/WAEC Certificate forgery came up and Ugbah sought to use it against the governor. Saror of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) also alleged that “Suswam was at the time of election, not qualified to contest the election, having presented a forged certificate to INEC, contrary to Section 182 (i) (j) of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria”.
Citing “non-compliance with the provisions of the electoral Act 2010”, Saror submitted that the election was invalid. He prayed the court to cancel the election and arrange a fresh poll, not on the basis of irregularities, but according to him, “Suswam won the election without meeting the required academic qualification for contesting the election”.
Ugbah said:”I won the election, alleging that INEC colluded with the PDP to deny him victory. His second pleading is that Suswam filed his defence late, and therefore, his reply should not be tolerated by the tribunal. Ugbah’s third pleading, which is hinged on certificate forgery, was also restored penultimate week by the Mohammed-led tribunal.
Ugbah’s case suffered twists and turns. It was dismissed by the Justice Ladan-led tribunal which claimed that it lacked the jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter. The ruling was upheld sequel to a decision of the Appeal Court before the Chief Justice of Federation Dahiru Musdapher ordered that a new tribunal should treat the case on its merits, not on technicalities.
However, in all the separate submissions of forgery, the onus has been on Saror and Ugbah to prove their allegations, since the respondent (Suswam) denied presentation of any forged document to INEC.
 Saror, a 70-year-old Professor of Veterinary Medicine and former Vice Chancello of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, presented himself as oral witness. After taking the oath, he presented National Life  and the Power Steering magazine, which he obtained from the National Library, as exhibits.
The tribunal did not ask Suswam to show his original GCE/WAEC certificate. The governor’s lawyers, who relied on ‘technicalities’, argued that “the newspapers, on which Saror built his case, were hearsay evidence, and therefore, inadmissible.       
Ugbah presented three GCE/WAEC certificates allegedly forged by the governor, as exhibits, including a police report. The tribunal described the exhibits as “tempting”.
Lead counsel to Ugbah, Chief Oluwarotimi Akeredoru (SAN), who described Suswam as a “serial forger”, is demanding judgment in favour of his client, Ugbah, a 55-year old Professor of Marketing and Entrepreneurship, who had lectured in the California State University, Hayward, United States for many years before coming home to run for the governorship.
“Why should someone with a forged GCE result be allowed to be governor, parading himself as a man of honour? This act must be condemned in totality by the tribunal”, Akeredoru told the three-man panel.
Both counsel continued the offensive, in a sporadic duel of words. But at that juncture, the tribunal rose to intervene, appealing that, rather than take issues personal, the lawyers should only ponder on the facts on the table, for substantial judgment. “The whole world is watching us”, said a member of the tribunal, Justice Muftau Adebola.
Suswam’s counsel, Damian Dodo (SAN) told the tribunal to dismiss Ugbah’s contention of certificate forgery. “The application does not satisfy the conditions contained in the Electoral Act”, he argued.
The tribunal ruled in Ugbah’s favour. Justice Mohammed held that “the issue of qualification is a competent ground in election petitions”.
Counsel to INEC, JS Okutepa (SAN) and counsel to the PDP, Chief Solo Akuma (SAN) have admitted that Suswam did not submit his certificates with the form CF001 to the electoral body in respect of the election. “This makes Suswam disqualified”, Ugbah argued.
He added: “If the governor did not submit his relevant educational credential, how did INEC screen and certify him to contest the election? It means INEC negated completely its procedural function of screening. In other words, Suswam was not qualified to have run for the exalted seat in the first instance, he stands disqualified to contest the April 26, 2011 governorship election, having failed, refused or neglected to present his certificates, as evidence that he is educated up to [secondary] school certificate level or its equivalent, in line with the provisions of Section 177 (d) of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, as amended, Ugbah’s team of lawyers have submitted.
Ugbah has subpoenaed the University of Lagos, the Law School, INEC and WAEC to bring all the certificates which Suswam used in their institutions. WAEC has already told the tribunal that it does not issue any fraudulent documents to its candidates, invariably including Suswam.
One Chidozie Ukpabi has confessed in the public and on the pages of national tabloids that he forged certificates for the Benue governor. Suswam described Ukpabi as a criminal, saying that his original certificates were stolen by robbers in a vehicle when he sent his personal assistant to go and complete his registration for a Masters programme in Public Administration (MPA) at the University of Abuja. So, he wrote to the Law School, WAEC and the University of Lagos for certified copies. UNILAG and Law School, he said, had sent him the copies but WAEC sent a wrong result after a month (in 2005), which he sent back, but forgot about it “because I did not have any need for it”.
But another counsel to Ugbah, Mr Orkuma said the certificate number SG 842969 that Suswam quoted in the letter to WAEC and the Inspector General of Police, as missing, is “forgery and perjury” and does not exist.
He further revealed that they (Ugbah’s counsel) are in possession of the University of Lagos’ 1989 transcript that indicates the governor had four carry-over courses that spilled over, and wondered when Suswam re-wrote and passed them to proceed to the Law School in 1990. 
To add buzz to the thrills that heralded Suswam’s legal woes, Mr. Terver Kakih, the only aspirant who contested the governorship primaries with Suswam in the PDP, had earlier alleged that the governor was not qualified to contest for the party’s ticket. He said that “Suswam lacked the prerequisite qualification for contesting the election”.
Before a High Court in Makurdi, where the case is being heard now, Kakih is praying the court to disqualify Suswam and declare him the PDP candidate cum governor of Benue state.
Suswam, 47-year-old former member of House of Representatives had, in an interview with Point-blanknews.com, debunked allegations linking him with certificate forgery. “I am not bothered because it’s false, it’s just a ploy by the opposition to reduce me in the eyes of the people”, he said. The governor said he finished from Government College Makurdi in 1982 and gained admission into the Law Faculty of the University of Lagos in 1986, obtained an LL.B degree in 1989, and the BL Certificate from the Nigerian Law School, Lagos in 1990.
He has however, refused to present his 1982 GCE certificate to the tribunal. Suswam’s lawyers rely exclusively on technicalities, with an appeal seeking to quash Ugbah’s petition on grounds that the Electoral Act 2010 stipulates 180 days for the tribunal to hear and determine election petitions, therefore, the official duration of 180 days given to the tribunal expired on November 14, 2011. But ACN already filed a cross-appeal demanding judgment, since Suswam failed to submit any defense in respect to Ugbah’s Ground Three (certificate forgery) that harps on qualification or disqualification of a candidate.  The tribunal had earlier dismissed Suswam’s motion on 180days, when Ugbah’s counsel argued that the 180day-issue was not applicable in their client’s case, since the Supreme Court ordered that the petition be heard de novo. 
Meanwhile, as the people of Benue await judgment with keen interest, the battle of words between the ACN and PDP supporters on who carries the day has intensified. No discussion in Benue is complete without a mention of the alleged forgery scam. The matter has even polarised the people’s social cohesion.