Obaseki certificates: PDP heads for court

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State is seeking the disqualification of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Godwin Obaseki, for allegedly providing false claims and information on oath to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The party in particular is asking the court for a declaration that Obaseki’s statement that he graduated from the University of Ibadan with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classical Studies in 1976, made under oath in INEC form CF001 at Part B, paragraph C dated July 11, 2016, is false.

In addition, the PDP is asking for a declaration disqualifying Obaseki from contesting Saturday’s Edo State governorship election on the grounds that he submitted false information on oath to the INEC in Form CF001.

Edo State PDP chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, at a press conference in Benin, said the move became necessary as the party was certain beyond doubts that the academic qualifications attested to by Obaseki in an affidavit he swore to in June 2016, were false.

He added that Obaseki refused to clear the air by displaying the original of his certificates after he claimed they had been found in the United States, calling on voters in the state not to waste their votes on Obaseki because the APC has no candidate in the election.

The defendants, in suit No FHC/B/CO/120/16 dated September 1, 2016 and filed by Chief Joseph Aghimien, SAN, and Professor Edoba Omoregie, are Mr Godwin Obaseki and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Orbih added that apart from misleading the INEC with false information, the fact that Obaseki failed to declare if he was a member of any secret society disqualifies him from contesting for the office of governor of Edo State.