Edo Governor, Godwin Obaseki
EDO state governor, Godwin Obaseki was on Friday disqualified by the Prof. Jonathan Ayuba-led Screening Committee of the All Progressives Congress APC for the Edo state Governorship primary election.
Also disqualified by the screening committee are Engr. Chris Ogiemwonyi and Hon. Matthew Iduoriyekemwen for different reasons which according to the guidelines are offensive to the party for any elections.
According to the screening committee, Ogiemwonyi’s names were characterized by discrepancies while Iduoriyekemwen instituted a case before the court without first exhausting all alternative dispute resolution mechanisms as the Party’s Constitution demands.
Obaseki in his nomination form claimed to have obtained a Higher School Leaving Certificate from an Institute of Continuing Education, Benin but discovered no educational certificate such as HSC is known in Nigerian educational system.
The committee also claimed that even then, the same HSC was never presented in the course of the screening exercise as the aspirant admitted that he has never collected it.
“The attestation from the Institute of Continuing Education, Benin from where the alleged HSC which was indicated in the field of attendance as obtained is of no consequence, as it only attests that Obaseki was a student of the Institute. So what we had was like an attendance. It was just an attendance, it was not a result.
“Although, the Committee received a petition on his University of Ibadan Bachelor of Arts Classics certificate which he submitted to INEC in 2016, when he first contested as governor, the committee on further probing was presented with original certificate issued by the University and the original was sighted.
“On the NYSC certificate dated 6th August 1980, the committee observed that he bears the name ‘Obasek’ Godwin. While this may be an error on the part of the issuing authority, we observed however that the aspirant has not taken any step ever to have the anomaly corrected by the issuing authority.
“In our interaction with issues raised, we concluded that HSC was defective. The NYSC certificate and the fact that the aspirant took the party to court, the above aspirant, His Excellency, Godwin Obaseki therefore is not eligible to participate in the election. “During our interaction which was done live, he informed us that he has instituted a suit against the party and the National Chairman.
“Yesterday we received all the documents of those processes and we had to rely on the party constitution because it is stated clearly that remedies should be carried through party processes. We gave opportunity for them to give us evidences to show that this was done and nothing happened”, Prof Ayuba explained.
Reacting to the ugly development, Governor Obaseki who admitted he was yesterday, screened by the committee set up by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress for the September 2020 gubernatorial poll called on his supporters to remain calm and await for further directives.
“We call on all party members and our teeming supporters to remain calm and await further directives, in the light of the announcement of my unjust disqualification to participate in All Progressives Congress primary election in Edo State by the screening committee”, he said.
At the time of this report, supporters are waiting for the next line of action. However, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed willingness to accept Obaseki into its fold.
But the party ruled out automatic ticket to anybody.
“Joining a party is different from contesting election. These are two separate things.
“People join political parties from their wards. We are in touch with our Edo State chapter and they have not told us that the governor had joined our party,” PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan said.