Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
Ahead of the April 20 governorship primary in Ondo State, one of the aspirants, Hon. Olugbenga Edema, has said it would be suicidal for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to field the state Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, for the November 16 governorship election due to alleged certificate forgery.
Recall that the former governorship candidate of the APC in the 2019 Bayelsa State gubernatorial election, David Lyon, was declared winner of the election, but a day to his swearing-in as governor, his election was invalidated by the Supreme Court.
The apex court ruled that his running mate, Degi Eremienyo Wangagra, submitted a fake certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), while ordering that Douye Diri of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who came second in the election, be issued a certificate of return, which would make him governor-elect.
However, addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja, one of the governorship aspirants and a former member of Ondo State House of Assembly, Hon. Olugbenga Edema, who had also petitioned the National Legal Adviser of APC and also wrote a letter to the chairman of the credentials/document vetting committee of the APC, said they should critically look at the credentials which Aiyedatiwa submitted to the party.
He said the reasons for his information to the committee was not borne out of any animosity or ill-will towards Aiyedatiwa or any person but to save the party and the APC members in Ondo State from the perdition that befell members in Bayelsa State from which they are yet to recover.
Edema noted that it is a fact that the issue surrounding the WAEC number: 15592/019 submitted by Aiyedatiwa to INEC in 2020 when he contested alongside late Governor Arakunrin Akeredolu had been generating serious controversies in the last two months.
He explained that the certificate was said to have been investigated by the police and a police report signed by DCP Tahir Usman indicting Aiyedatiwa of certificate forgery, misrepresentation and perjury was issued to that effect.
The governorship hopeful said the grounds for the indictment are: “That the authority of Ikosi High School, Ketu, Lagos State admitted to the police that the school was established in 1980.
“That the school was accredited to present candidates to sit for WAEC May/June examinations for the first time in 1985.
“That Governor Ayedatiwa did not at any time attend Ikosi High school, Ketu, Lagos State, as his name did not appear in any of the school’s registers from 1980 to 1985.”
Against this background, Edema cautioned the leadership of the party that if due diligence was not followed, any lapse in the screening process would spell doom for the party as the issue of fake certificates is both a pre-election and post-election matter.
He said considering the popularity of the APC in Ondo State, if the gubernatorial election is conducted today or on November 16, 2024, the party will defeat PDP or any other opposition parties that might feature candidates.
Edema added: “Therefore, it would be suicidal to field a candidate that carries so much baggage and later lose to the opposition party through the court. In fact we have it on good authority, that the PDP aspirants, knowing these facts, are praying fervently that the APC fields Hon. Lucky Ayedatiwa as its candidate in the forth-coming Ondo State gubernatorial election.”
