Court adjourns hearing in forgery case against Sen. Bwacha
By Terna Chikpa, Jalingo
The Federal High Court sitting in Jalingo on Monday adjourned hearing in a forgery case filed against the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Taraba State Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, by Chief David Sabo Kente.
Kente is alleging that the embattled governorship candidate of the party forged some of the documents submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC that qualified him to contest the Primary election of the party.
Counsel to the Plaintiff Barrister John Yuwa told correspondents that the instant suite bothers on the qualification of the defendant to have even participated in the Primaries of the party in the first place.
Yuwa said the hearing was stalled because the defendants are questioning the jurisdiction of the Court and after listening to the arguments, the trial judge decided to adjourn the matter for tomorrow Tuesday, 24/1/2023.
Barrister D. G. Tukura, Counsel to the Third defendant Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, said that the case was wrongly filed in the first place, after the errors were corrected at the last adjourned date, only for the team to realize that the matter, even as is currently constituted, is incompetent. Consequently, the defendant has raised his application challenging the jurisdiction of the Court.
Also, counsel to the All Progressives Congress APC, Barrister Boniface Iorkumbur noted that the plaintiff did not even participated in the said Primaries and so has no local bases to have even filed the suite against the governorship candidate.
Iorkumbur said, “the Plaintiff also failed to push front the evidence they have against the defendants to enable them prepare their defence, noting that the Courts is not a chasing ground where counsels will come for a game of hide and seek.”
Justice Bala KS Usman subsequently adjourns the matter for Tuesday to decide if the preliminary objections should be heard first.
Our correspondent reports that Kente is currently challenging the emergence of Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Taraba for the March general election and the case is billed for ruling on February 3rd at the Supreme Court Abuja.
