Witness says she was asked to change her testimony in lawsuit

Elnora Canady of Fleming says she was recently asked by former School Boardmember Mohammad Huda to contradict her testimony from a deposition she participated in several months ago to say he has been living on her block for the past two years.

Elnora Canady of Fleming says she was recently asked by former School Boardmember Mohammad Huda to contradict her testimony from a deposition she participated in several months ago to say he has been living on her block for the past two years.

 

By Charles Sercombe
Just a few weeks before former School Boardmember Mohammad Huda’s appeal in Wayne County Circuit Court to win back his seat was heard, a witness in the case says she was asked to change her statement.
In an exclusive interview with The Review, Elnora Canady, who lives two doors down from the house that Huda claims he lives in, said that Huda and an unidentified man came to her house twice bearing food.
In the first visit in early July the two mistook her daughter, Tara Cornwell, for her and gave her food. After they found out she was not Canady, they came back a few days later, again with a tray of Middle Eastern food.
This time, though, they presented Canady with a written statement saying she was aware that Huda had lived in the house he had claimed to be a resident in since 2014.
She was asked to sign it, but Canady refused, saying it was false.
“He (Huda) asked me if I remembered in 2014 he came over to and said ‘Hello.’”
“I told him that was not in 2014, it was in 2016,” Canady said.
Had Canady signed that statement, she would have contradicted what she said in a deposition a few months ago about her knowledge of whether Huda lived on Fleming. At that time she said no one had been living in the house Huda claimed to live, and it had been vacant for some time.
That testimony was critical in proving the school district’s claim that Huda was not qualified to be a school boardmember because he did not live in the city. The district offered proof that Huda actually lived in Warren with his wife and children.
The school board declared Huda’s seat vacant last February and appointed Salah Hadwan to fill his seat until the November General Election.
Huda filed a lawsuit against the district to win back his seat but a Wayne County Circuit Court judge agreed with the district that there was strong proof he did not live here.
Canady said Huda only recently appears to be living in the house he claimed to have at the time he ran for office two years ago.
Her daughter, Tara, said that a few weeks ago she helped a worker carry a new door into the house Huda is now renovating. She said there was still “debris” from the previous family that lived there a few years ago.
After that family moved out, she said, the house remained vacant for a couple of years, despite Huda’s claim he was living there.
The Review attempted to reach Huda several times and left phone messages but Huda did not return calls.
Canady said she has lived on Fleming for seven years. Huda lost his appeal last Friday, and since then Canady said he has not said a word to her.

 

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