In his judgment, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, held that the allegation of certificate forgery against Abah by the plaintiff, Mr Hassan Saleh, was true having been established by an election tribunal in 2011.

The judge held that an earlier judgment of the National/State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, delivered on Sept. 6, 2011, affirmed that the certificate presented by Abah to INEC was forged.

He also said that a letter by the Registrar of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, Mr Suleiman Buba, affirmed that the certificate presented by Abah to INEC was forged.

The judge also declared all the votes that accrued to Abah in the PDP primaries held on Dec. 6, 2014, as wasted and also declared Saleh as winner of the election.

Justice Ademola, therefore, ordered INEC to issue a fresh certificate of return to Saleh, who had aspired for the position in the primary election before the PDP declared Abah unopposed.
The court also ordered the incoming Speaker of the ‎8th National Assembly to swear in Saleh as the member representing Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal ‎Constituency.

Ademola also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to nullify the certificate of return issued to Abah of the Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal ‎Constituency.

He also ordered the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, to immediately commence prosecution of Abah for the crimes of forgery and perjury.

Saleh had challenged Abah’s eligibility to stand for the election on the ground that he forged an Ordinary National Diploma in Accountancy purportedly obtained from the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, in 1985.

Abah, the unopposed People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the election, was the only candidate presented by the party for the April 11, 2015 election.

Ademola also decried the conduct of Mr Sunday Ameh (SAN), Counsel to Abah and PDP for what he described as “frivolous applications and tactics to delay the hearing of the case’’.

He ordered that the processes filed in the suit and his judgment be served on the Nigerian Bar Association, the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee and Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee to sanction Ameh.

The judge also ordered the three defendants, the PDP, INEC and Abah, to pay a total of N450,000 costs to the plaintiff.

Justice Ademola expressed dissatisfaction over the conduct of INEC and PDP for promoting “the culture of impunity’’ by failing to disqualify Abah from participating in the election, ab initio.