The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP ,)has said that the error on the certificate of Governor Godwin Obaseki was due to error from a photocopier.
The re-elected Governor Obasek of Edo State was disqualified by the ALL Progressives Congress APC as a result of discrepancy in the certificate while seeking a second term on the party’s platform
The PDP on whose platform the governor was re -elected admitted on Tuesday ,that”while filling the forms for the election in 2016, Obaseki mistakenly filled in 1976 as the year of graduation which was actually the year of his admission into UI.
The Party made this known in response to a petition to the Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Benin City,the Edo State Capital, by the Action Democratic Party
ADP) governoship candidate , Iboi Emmanuel accusing
Obaseki of forgery and electoral fraud.
The PDP said inspite of the error in the certificate of Obaseki, he was cleared to participate in the National Youth Service Corps ( NYSC)scheme.
The Party said at the time Obaseki was completing his Form CFOO1 in 2016, he swore to an “affidavit that he had misplaced the originals of all his certificates while changing offices with the intention to apply for a re-issuance of the cerificates
According to the Party, before Obaseki submitted his Form EC9 in 2020, the original certificate issued by the UI was found which has the signatures of then Vice Chancellor and Registrar.The original certificate was issued in A5 size.However,in order for the photocopy to be attached to the FormCFOO1, the size was reduced to A4 and in the process, leaving out some information on it adding that the tribunal lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the petition because it is statute barred and the issues raised by the petitions were mere allegations.
The ADP candidate had prayed the tribunal to disqualify Obaseki for the controversy surrounding his first degree certificate and nullify the votes cast for him.it also prayed the tribunal to order the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to conduct a fresh election in Edo for candidates in the last election excluding the PDP and Obaseki.
