A Federal High Court sitting in Jalingo the Taraba State capital has ordered the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) to within 48 hours, correct the wrong date of birth used for the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate in the 2019 General elections in the state.
This follows the disqualification of the APC gubernatorial candidate Sani Danladi in the 2019 General elections for age falsification in his details tendered to the party as well as his WAEC certificate.
Delivering his judgment on Wednesday, Justice Simon Amobeda granted his application, compelling WAEC to correct the wrong date of birth and issue him with another certificate within 48hrs of the service of the orders on it.
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The Judge cited similar judgments which involved errors and corrections of Certificates in many places in Nigeria, insisting that the correction of the error is one of the fundamental human rights of the complainant.
Counsel to the defendant Barr Chia Elijah says it is the public duty of WAEC to issue him a new certificate correcting his date of birth.
”The court has looked at the case brought before it and has resolved that he is entitled to an order of mandamus compelling WAEC to correct his date.
”If you ask me in my own opinion, the court has death effectively and accordance to legal principles as all the issues raised by WAEC was tackled.
”They alleged principally that their was a delay, but the court has firmly held that there is no law specifying the time within which WAEC can make corrections on their certificate.
”By the verdict of the court, it permits him to contest the 2023 General elections because it has established that it was a mistake, which was not made by him and cannot be held responsible for the mistake of WAEC”.
In the year 2001 the 2019 APC gubernatorial candidate Sani Danladi sat for SSCE at the WAEC center located at the Government Secondary School, Karim Lamido Local Government Area.
He was issued with a certificate on which his date of birth was wrongly stated to be April 3, 1977 instead of April 14, 1968.
In 2007 when he contested on a joint ticket with Danbaba Suntai as Deputy Governor, he was challenged because all other documents submitted by him except for the school certificate bears his correct date of birth.
Realizing the consequences, he wrote to the WAEC zonal office in Yola and Government Secondary School, Karim Lamido local council for the correction of his date of birth.
Apart from 2007, he wrote several other letters to which WAEC did not respond.
The school also wrote admitting that the error was that of it’s center and consequently requested for correction of the error.
WAEC in 2020 invited him to fill a form for correction of the error. He was also asked to pay a fee of Ten Thousand Naira and submit the original certificate which he did.
In December 2020, WAEC wrote refusing to effect the correction. He then commenced Suit No. FHC/JAL/CS/2/2022 against WAEC for an order of Mandamus.
Today, the Federal High Court sitting in Jalingo, granted his application for mandamus compelling WAEC to correct the wrong date of birth and issue him with another certificate within the next 48 hours.
