Dapo Abiodun Submitted Fake WAEC Result, Not Qualified to Run for Ogun Governor – Petitioner Tells Tribunal
As the eligibility case of the Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, rages on at the election tribunal, witnesses have enumerated two criminal grounds for his disqualification at the Ogun State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abeokuta.
The three-man tribunal is led by Justice Hamidu Kunaza.
Recall that Dapo Abiodun was declared winner of the March 18 controversial Governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) even while there are still some votes to be cast in several polling units in many parts of the state.
The controversial results declared by INEC showed Mr. Abiodun led by about 13,000 votes.
Abiodun’s main challenger, Oladipupo Adebutu of the Peoples Democratic Party has however approached the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal with a 307 Page Petition stating several grounds upon which the elections have been compromised and manipulated.
Adebutu called for a review of the alleged wrongful declaration of the governor as the winner of the March 18 governorship election.
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According to the PDP, Mr. Dapo Abiodun, among other things submitted a fake West African Examinations Council (WAEC) certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
It claimed that as at the time of the election, Abiodun was not qualified to contest the election according to the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
From court records and documents made available to journalists, Governor Dapo Abiodun allegedly presented a forged WAEC results of June 1978 to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on July 25, 2022.
A letter was said to have been written to the National examinations body to confirm the authenticity of the results submitted by Mr. Abiodun but no response has been received, even while WAEC was said to have acknowledged receipt of the letter, which is fueling speculation that the results submitted by Dapo Abiodun might have been compromised.
“We had written a letter to the West African Examinations Council, to verify the authenticity of the said examination certificate presented by Dapo Abiodun to INEC,” the petitioner said.
The tribunal was also informed through the petition that the certificate that Dapo Abiodun submitted to the INEC, where he was graded as First Division, his scores in the subjects that he claimed to have sat for at the said examination contradicts his claimed grading as First Division.
It appears there are more troubles ahead for the Ogun State Governor as he will be put to task to justify his claim that he truly sat for the said examinations conducted in June 1978, and also prove that the examination body West African Examinations Council truly issued the said certificate that was submitted to INEC.
This is not the first time that the Ogun State Governor will be put to task on his academic qualifications. In 2019, Mr. Dapo Abiodun had been challenged over his claims that he attended the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife (as the then University of Ife), a claim which he made in the forms which he submitted to the electoral body.
He also claimed to have attended a university in the United States of America, all of which he denied when subjected to public scrutiny.
Mr. Abiodun also denied these claims in a Channels television interview, anchored by Seun Okinbaloye and said the matter was in court.
He never granted any Live interview after the controversial appearance where he stammered about his educational qualifications and background.
Mr. Abiodun has never defended his educational qualifications satisfactorily in the public, and all past legal challenges have only been dismissed, not on the legal substance of the matter but on technical grounds or of “pre-election matters”.
According to a source “This is the first time that Dapo Abiodun will be forced to come clean on whether he actually went to school or not. The Governor is currently trapped this time around, hitherto he has always hidden under technicalities like Pre election matters.
But by the Court of Appeal judgement of a few weeks ago, pre election matters can only be filed by a member of the party or someone who contested the party primaries against him, but same eligibility status can be challenged in a post election matter now by the opposing parties, by someone who contested against him at the general elections.
“Before now, it was the universities that he claimed to have attended that are the issues, but now Dapo Abiodun will have to prove that he indeed attended any secondary school, justify the the grades awarded to him by WAEC which is different from grades awarded to people who wrote their exams in the same year and about the same time. I think it is time Dapo Abiodun brought out his mates and their results.
“As a matter of fact, there are contradictions in the schools, both primary and secondary that he claimed to have attended because they don’t seem to exist then and not even now. WAEC needs to tender names and exams numbers for 10 names before and after his.” The source further offered.
According to the petition, officials of WAEC will be invited to come and testify on the matter.
The chairman has adjourned the next sitting to June 22, 2023, for further proceedings.
