November 11, (THEWILL) – The Federal High Court sitting in Uyo has dismissed WAEC certificates forgery levelled by the Akwa Ibom PDP governorship aspirant, Mr. Akan Okon, against the PDP governorship candidate for the 2023 elections, Pastor Umo Eno, for lack of merit.
Justice Agatha Okeke, in her judgment delivered at about 6:30 pm on Friday, dismissed the case for lack of merit and awarded N15m for damages against Mr. Okon in favour of Pastor Umo Eno, PDP and INEC, who were defendants in the case.
The Court held that all claims by the plaintiff were based on assumptions and speculations.
THEWILL reports that there was visible tension when the presiding Judge, Justice Agatha Okeke, made an appearance in the court, which was jam-packed to the brim and all the legal chieftains on both sides of the legal battle were on hand for the all-important judgement.
Three Attorney Generals of Akwa Ibom State, including the incumbent, Uko Udom, SAN; Assam Assam, SAN; and Uwemedimo Nwoko, SAN as well as Paul Usoro, SAN; Essien Udom, SAN; and Emmanuel Enoidem ESQ, to mention a few, were present at the Court to witness the truth about the WAEC certificate issue.
Paul Usoro, SAN; Offiong Offiong, SAN; Essien Udom, SAN; Uwemedimo Nwoko, SAN; lead Barr Emmanuel Enoidem, Barr Goddy Umo, Barr Utibe Nwoko, etc, represented the PDP and Pastor Umo Eno.
On documents tendered by Akan Okon as Pastor Umo Eno’s academic records from the University of Uyo. The court held that there was no certified true copy of those documents as required by Section 84 of the evidence act, and the makers were not made to authenticate the documents.
The court also threw out a forensic submitted by Akan Okon’s forensic expert saying it failed to prove the authenticity of the photographs he claimed to have carried out a forensic examination. It, therefore, ruled that the process of getting the photographs processed and transmitted to the forensic expert lacked foundational evidence.
The court, therefore, upholds WAEC’s evidence and ruled that Umo Eno’s WAEC certificates are authentic.
Furthermore, Justice Agatha dismisses Akan Okon’s allegation of falsification of age by Pastor Umo Eno and holds that the defendant meets the constitutional requirement for the governorship election in Nigeria. It frowns at Okon for relying on alleged published congratulatory messages in newspapers by third parties to insinuate that Pastor Umo falsified his age.
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