The Supreme Court on Thursday in Abuja dismissed a certificate forgery suit brought against a Senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Bayelsa Central Senatorial District, Konbowei Friday Benson.
The Apex Court held that certificate forgery, being a criminal allegation, ought to be and must be proven beyond all reasonable doubts before legal action can be taken on it.
 Another Senatorial candidate from the same party, Senator Moses Cleopas had asked the Apex Court to halt his opponent on the ground that Konbowei Friday Benson paraded a forged Secondary School Certificate purportedly obtained from the West African Examination Council (WAEC).
 He alleged that the opponent used the forged certificate and false information to secure participation in the senatorial primary election of the PDP and final clearance from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for nomination.
Prior the judgment, several questions were thrown to the appellant among which were whether WAEC was contacted to confirm the authenticity of the certificate or not but the answer came in negative.
 Meanwhile, there were pleadings by the appellant that the Justices should invoke section 22 of the Supreme Court’s Act to resolve the issue were also rejected on the grounds that time for doing so was over.
In dealing with the reality, the appellant withdrew the appeal and was subsequently dismissed by the Apex Court.
 Justice John Inyang Okoro in a unanimous judgment of a 5-man panel of Justices of the Court said the law was settled that anyone or group who alleges must establish facts for the court to act upon.
The serving senator representing Bayelsa Central in the National Assembly, Senator Moses Cleopas had in May lost his bid to return to the Senate for a second term as he lost the PDP primaries to Konbowei Benson.
