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| Hon Baba Hassan |
Plateau Tribunal: Police tells
Panel that it investigated Hon. Ibrahim Baba Hassan but found him not culpable
of forgery.
By Joseph A. Adudu
August 05, 2019.
Police Inspector, Sunday Baba, told the State and National
Assembly Election Tribunal sitting at High Court 6, West of Mines Jos, that
Hon. Ibrahim Baba Hassan, member representing Jos North/ North state
constituency) was thoroughly investigated by the force on forgery allegation
but was not found culpable.
Inspector Baba, who
appeared before the tribunal on subpoena was taken as RW 2. The witness told
the tribunal that he has been in the Police Force for 19 years adding that the
Plateau state Command of the Police force was petitioned on forgery allegation
against Hon Baba Hassan in 2015 when he was a Sergeant adding that the said
petition was endorsed to him with the inscription " Sergeant Sunday Baba,
Investigate and report " According to the witness, after
investigation, it was found out that the Diploma Certificate in Business Administration
issued by the University of Jos was not forged by Hon. Baba Hassan who is a 2nd
respondent in the matter. " From our investigation, the Diploma
Certificate in Business Administration issued to Hon. Baba Hassan by the
University of Jos was found to be authentic. Case of forgery was not
substantiated therefore, there was no evidence to charge him to court",
said witness.
Recalled that last week, another witness, Yagwa Shizaor a staff
with the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) who was also
subpoenaed to testify at the tribunal, told it that Hon. Ibrahim Baba Hassan
was qualified to contest the 2019 election into the House of Assembly, Jos
North/North state constituency having satisfied all the conditions and
requirements spelt out by the commission as prerequisite qualification for the
election into that office. " Our Commission found out nothing wrong with
the documents submitted by the 2nd respondent (Ibrahim Baba Hassan) who
eventually won the said election by scoring the highest number of votes and was
subsequently, declared the winner", said witness.
RW 2 said that Hon. Hassan was returned winner because he met all
the conditions expected of a candidate contesting for the House of Assembly.
When the case came up this morning, counsel to Ibrahim Baba
Hassan, E. B Ede, tendered 7 documents as follows:
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| Counsels at the tribunal on Monday |
1. 19th combined convocation ceremony of the University of Jos and
their dates; 1996/97, 1997/98, 1998/99 and 1999/2000.
2. The University of Jos at 40; Leapfrogging with resourcefulness
and Planning.
3. The Punch Newspaper of Wednesday 9th March, 2016.
4. Leadership Newspaper of Monday 13 June 2016.
5. A letter from the University of Jos to the Commissioner of
Police plateau state Command Jos, Plateau state dated 25 February, 2016.
6. A letter from the university of Jos to the Assistant
Commissioner of Police "D" Department (CID), the Nigeria Police,
Plateau State Command, Jos Plateau state dated April 12, 2016.
7. The ruling of Supreme Court in a case between Abdulsalem Saleh
vs Hon. Ibrahim Baba Hassan and others in Appeal number SC. 484/ 2019,
delivered on June 13, 2019.
The admittance of the documents was not objected by the counsels
for the 1st and 3rd respondents (INEC and APC) respectively. However, counsel
for the petitioners, I.D Shanding reserved objection to the tendering and
admittance of the documents to be articulated in their final address.
Consequently, the documents were admitted in evidence and marked as exhibits
R9-R15 respectively.
Hon. Baba Hassan also testified and taken as RW 3. In his
testimony, he identified all the documents tendered by his counsel and went
further to identify his name at page 354 of exhibit R2 which is 19th combined
convocations ceremony of the university of Jos from 1996 to 2001.
Witness also identified exhibits R4 and R5 which are publications
in the Punch and Leadership Newspapers of Wednesday March, 2016 and Monday 13
June 2016 by University of Jos exonerating him of forgery allegation regarding
Diploma Certificate in Business Administration from the institution and further
affirmed that indeed, the 2nd respondent's Diploma Certificate was actually
issued by the institution after meeting all the conditions for its award.
PW2 and PW3 were all cross examined by Kalu Imo, A.A Sangei and I
D Shanding, counsels for 1st 3rd respondents and the petitioners respectively.
With the development, all parties have closed their processes and
the tribunal adjourned until 2nd September, 2019 for the adoption of final
written addresses by all parties.
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