Lawyer drags Buhari to court, seeks his disqualification over certificate

The controversy over General Muhamed Buhari’s certificate seems not to be dying away as an Abuja-based lawyer, Mr. Chike Okafor, has asked the Federal High Court to disqualify him from contesting the 2015 presidential elections.

The case with Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/01/2015 is based on Section 131 of the Constitution which prescribes a minimum qualification for nomination to participate in presidential elections and Section 31 of the Electoral Act that stipulates that all presidential candidates should depose to an affidavit in proof of compliance with constitutional requirement to be president of Nigeria.

The plaintiff claimed that  Buhari failed to prove that he has the minimum educational qualification to run for president.

He further claimed that General Buhari’s Affidavit that he possessed the West African School Leaving Certificate (WASC) was false, as not only did he not attach it to his Nomination Form, as compulsorily required, but his claim that the certificates were in the custody of the Military has been denied by the Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Olajide Laleye.

He therefore requested the Federal High Court to disqualify Buhari from contesting at the 2015 general elections.

He cited Section 31(5) of the Electoral Act that allows a person that has reasonable grounds to believe that false information has been given by a candidate in his affidavit or document submitted to INEC, in support of his Nomination Form, to approach the Court for the candidate to be disqualified.