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Tony Osauzo, Benin
The Edo chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has attributed error in Governor Godwin Obaseki’s certificate on a photocopier.
The party stated this in a reply to the petition by Action Democratic Party (ADP) filed at the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, challenging Obaseki’s election on ground of non-qualification and electoral malpractices.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) disqualified Obaseki from seeking a second term on its platform in the September 19, governorship election on the basis of the error in the disputed certificate.
But the PDP which is challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal to hear the ADP petition said “there was misstatement in mixing up the year of graduation with the year of admission.”
According to the party, in spite of the noticeable error, Obaseki proceeded to take part in the National Youth Service Corps scheme, pointing out that the matter was a pre-election matter which the tribunal cannot entertain.
“While filling the forms for the election in 2016, Obaseki inadvertently and mistakenly wrote 1976 in a portion of the form for the year of the graduation which year was the year of his admission into the University of Ibadan.
“At the time Obaseki was completing his Form CF001 in 2016, he deposed to an affidavit stating that he had misplaced the originals of all of his certificates while changing offices with the intention to apply for a re-issuance if his certificates.Subsequently, before Obaseki submitted his Form EC9 in 2020, the original certificate issued by University of Ibadan was eventually found which has the signatures of te Vice-Chancellor and Registrar of the University.”
The PDP, however, blamed the error in Obaseki’s certificate on the mechanism of the photocopier saying, “the original certificate was issued in A5 size; however, in order for the photocopy of the certificate to be attached to the Form CF001, the size was reduced to A4 and in the process, leaving out some information on the certificate.”
Notwithstanding, the PDP stated in its reply to the ADP petition that “the tribunal lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the petition for reason that same is statute barred because the issues raised by the petitioner are averments which are not relevant for the purpose of determining the petition at the Election Petition Tribunal as the said averments relate to facts concerning the previous election conducted in 2016 and that since the election under dispute is that of September 2020 and as such should be dismissed.”
