-Seeks Escalation of NASS Election Matters to Supreme Court
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Yola North/Yola South/Girei federal constituency, Mohammed Salihu, aka Abba Girei who was declared winner of the Feb 25 2023 House of Representatives election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has decried the nullification of his victory by the Court of Appeal as deeply flawed.
The ousted reps member equally refuted claims that he was convicted and barred from holding political office adding that his case is an electoral matter not a criminal matter, therefore such insinuations must be discountenanced.
Salihu, popularly called Abba Girei during a Press Briefing, called on the national assembly to repeal the electoral laws to give people who feel shortchanged in national assembly election matters the right to escalate their grievances up to the apex court, expressing optimism that the Supreme Court will have upturned the appellate court judgement
He added that although he has no constitutional remit to subject the judgement to further scrutiny, he felt the need to express his anger on the flawed verdict.
He said although judgement was made, justice was not served
“The court decision to nullify my election left us deeply disappointed and disatisfied. The judgement was not based on facts and documents we presented to the court,” he said.
He emphasized that like all other institutions, the appeal court is not infallible, hence his candid disavowal of the court’s verdict.
He alleged that the court has sidestepped cogent and verifiable evidences and documents he presented and instead used extraneous ones to make such pronouncement.
According to him, justice was not served when a candidate who scored 71,223 was prevented from representing his people to the advantage of another one who scored 54,335 votes.
He stated further, “Salihu Mohammed did not forge any certificate and we call on the police to investigate this matter thoroughly. The schools Mohammed salihu attended are still in existence.
“You can conduct your independent investigations. Wulari 1 Primary School, Maiduguri issued his primary school certificate, and they affirmed the genuineness of the certificate. Maiduguri issued his birth certificate, and they affirmed the birth certificate.”
