Kwara State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Ilorin has fixed September 20th to deliver its judgment.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate Rasak Atunwa are challenging the election of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the tribunal.
PDP and Atunwa accused the governor of allegedly presenting a forged secondary school certificate and was therefore not qualified to run for governor.
Respondents in the case are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), AbdulRazaq and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
At the resumption of the hearing on Wednesday, counsel to Atunwa and the respondents adopted their final written addresses before the three-man tribunal chaired by Justice Bassey Efiong.
While Atunwa called on the tribunal to hold that AbdulRazaq was not qualified to run in the election, AbdulRazaq said the petitioner failed to prove the allegation of forgery while the West African Examination Council (WAEC), which the petition had subpoenaed, confirmed to the tribunal that the governor sat for its examination in 1976.
The respondents urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition.
The PDP’s candidate, which had listed several witnesses for the case, only called the WAEC to testify in the matter. In its testimony, however, WAEC said AbdulRazaq wrote the exams and had his certificate issued to him as Razaq A.R., the same name used for the examination.
WAEC, which was represented by Olorunsola Victor, a senior examination officer, also told the tribunal that at least 31 other candidates also had their names abbreviated in the same year.
A classmate of AbdulRazaq at the Kaduna Government College, Kabiru Yaro, who testified for the respondent, told the tribunal that the Governor sat in front of him during the examination with serial number 119.
After the adoption of their final written addresses on Wednesday, the court fixed September 20th for the delivery of it’s judgment.
