Yola judge withdraws from forgery case against Bindow

The judge, Justice Abdulaziz Anka, said Wednesday that for personal reasons, he could not continue with the case but would return it to the chief judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja to reassign it. “Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done,” Anka said, reiterating that after hearing from the counsels and reviewing what had become apparent, he was uncomfortable about continuing with the case. The case in question was first filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja in September last year by a rights group, Global Integrity Crusade Network (GICN), which claimed in its originating summons that the governor did not complete his secondary education at the Government Secondary School, Miango, which certificate he was using, for which reason the group asked the court to determine the qualification or otherwise of Bindow for re-election as governor in the coming general election. The case was first heard in the Abuja division of the Federal High Court in October last year by Justice B.O. Quadiri who granted the plaintiff’s plea for accelerated hearing, but the case was subsequently transferred to Yola where the first respondent resides. Reacting to the withdrawal from the case by Justice Anka and return of the case to Abuja, the chief counsel to Governor Bindow, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), told newsmen that his client was ready to follow the case to anywhere it may be taken. “As we said in the open court, we are ready for the hearing in the case to continue, but the judge recused himself from the case and it is being sent back to Abuja. Wherever they take us, we will go,” he said. He added however that the case lacked merit and had no chance of going far. “From when this case was first filed in Abuja, we raised the objection that the plaintiff (GICN) is an artificial person who has no locus standi to institute the case. The plaintiff was not an aspirant and is not a citizen of Adamawa State and has no business challenging Bindow as the candidate of the APC for the forthcoming election,” Uche asserted. Responding in a separate interview with newsmen, the counsel to GICN, Edward Omaga, said the Global Integrity Crusade Network is an advocacy group registered by Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to carry out its functions for or against persons and organizations anywhere across the country, and could therefore not be said to lack locu standi in the suit against the Adamawa State governor.]]>