The Niger State National and State Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Minna, has nullified the election of Murtala Badaru of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the ground of being too young to be a legislator.
Bdaru, who is representing Suleja, in the Niger State House of Assembly, was sent packing today with the Tribunal chairman holding that he had not attain the constitutional age of 30 to be a lawmaker.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the same constituency, Shaibu Iya, had challenged the election of Badaru on the grounds of certificate forgery and being underage.
While the Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Olatunde Oshodi, in his judgment, said Badaru was not found guilty of certificate forgery as alleged by the petitioner however, nullified his election on account of underage.
Justice Oshodi then ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election in the constituency within 90 days even as counsel to Badaru, Chris Osuagwu, indicated that his client would appeal the judgment.
Meanwhile, the tribunal upheld the election of Alhaji Musa Sule (APC-Kachia) in the state House of Assembly.
The tribunal held that the petitioner, Ibrahim Ndaman of the PDP, failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Sule forged his certificate from Zungeru Polytechnic and was an ex-convict.
It dismissed the case for lack of merit and ordered the petitioner to pay the sum of N100,000 each to the first (Sule) and second (APC) respondents in the matter as cost. [myad]
