A high court in Edo state has nullified the candidacy of Audu Ganiyu, running mate of Osagie Ize-Iyamu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the September 19, 2020, governorship election.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had filed a suit against Ganiyu whom the party said was not qualified to contest the election.
He had asked the court to disqualify Ganiyu on the grounds of “giving false information” to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Delivering judgment in Benin, the state capital on Wednesday, Courage-Ogbebor, the presiding judge, held that Ganiyu presented false information to INEC in his Form EC9.
In December, a federal high court in Abuja had disqualified a suit which sought the disqualification of Ganiyu in the election.
The Action Democratic Party (ADP), which filed the suit, had alleged that Ganiyu presented forged documents to INEC.
Meanwhile, there is a pending suit before a federal high court in Abuja in which the APC is seeking disqualification of Obaseki on the grounds that he submitted a fake certificate to INEC.
On Tuesday, Abayomi Ajayi, an official of the legal unit of the University of Ibadan, told the court that Obaseki was issued a bachelor’s degree certificate in 1979.
He said the photocopy submitted to INEC cannot be regarded as fake.
The case is expected to come to a close this week as the 180-day timeline expires on Saturday.
