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By 
IFEOMA NWOVU
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, has declined to nullify the candidacy of Governor Mohammed Inuwa of Gombe State.
In a ruling, Justice Binta Nyako, dismissed an allegation that the governor submitted forged documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in aid of his qualification.
The suit was brought before the court by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and two of its chieftains in the state.
Specifically, the plaintiffs, through their lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Johnson Usman, alleged that the governor lied on oath in documents he presented before the INEC and prayed the court to restrain the 3rd defendant from parading himself as the governorship candidate of the APC in the state.
Meanwhile, both the APC and governor Inuwa, through their lawyer, Mr. Marshall Abubakar, challenged the competence of the suit, arguing that PDP and its members lacked the locus standi to institute an action to challenge the nomination of a candidate by another political party.
Reacting to the ruling, Counsel to the plaintiffs, Mr Johnson Usman argued that the allerged contradictions in the documents led them to court.
One of the counsels to the defendants, Mr. Akpomiemie Akpomiemie expressed satisfaction that the court acted according to the law and the Electoral Act.
The court declined request for punitive cost to be awarded against the plaintiffs for abusing the judicial process.
