The Adamawa State Independent Electoral Commission (ADSIEC) has confirmed that Barrister Shallom Dangi Kassa, submitted forged certificate, seeking to be cleared for the July 13 local council election.

The ADSIEC Commissioner of Research, Planning and Publicity, Zenald Love, disclosed this to SaharaReporters on Monday.

Love said the Commission was informed that Kassa had alleged that he was cleared to contest because he bribed the Commission with N10million to scale through.

He said, "I'm aware (of the allegation), I had already informed his friend, the former chairman of Demsa local government that I'll report him to the DSS. I had also informed the chairman of the Commission on the need to have him arrested because he was tarnishing the image of the screaming committee.

"And a petition was written against him which the Commission forwarded to the DSS. The DSS has investigated him. The DSS knows that his certificate is fake. The DSS has confirmed that his certificate is fake. You may wish to confirm this from the deputy director of operations. They've investigated and found his certificate to be fake," he said.

On why the Commission cleared him with a forged document for the contest despite the DSS report, Love argued, "The law prevents the commission from disqualifying any candidate, only the court may deal with that."

SaharaReporters learnt that a group had petitioned ADSIEC chairman, detailing how Kassa allegedly forged his senior secondary school certificate in 1980 to gained admission to study law at University of Maiduguri.

Upon graduation, he worked and retired as a Magistrate in the Adamawa State judiciary using the same forged certificate.

Kassa reportedly participated in the PDP primary election and emerged its candidate after  tendering the same forged certificate alongside other documents.

The petitioners disclosed further that the candidate number on Kassa's Senior Secondary School Certificate originally belongs to one Shanya Farbina who is now late. 

As according to them, "when the candidate number 10502120 is imputed into the West African Examination Council website, the record brings out the name of Shanya Farbina and not Shalom Dangi Kassa."

Accordingly, the petitioners urged the electoral commission to disqualify the PDP candidate who is seeking a reelection, asserting further that he was being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on issues bothering on corruption while in office.

SaharaReporters contacted the ADSIEC Commissioner on Research, Planning and Publicity, Rev. Zenald Love on the alleged N10 inducement to clear Barr Kassa for the contest; to which he denied vehemently.

When contacted Barr Kassa simply said, "no no no. How can I forge documents?"  He then abruptly ended the call and switched off his phone.