A governorship aspirant under the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Honourable Olugbenga Edema, has cautioned the party against fielding Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa as APC candidate in the November 16, 2024 governorship poll to guide against what befell the party in 2019 when the Supreme Court annulled the election of David Lyon and Senator Degi Eremienyo as the duly elected governor and deputy governor respectively on the ground of eligibility.
Edema, who was addressing the media on the alleged certificate forgery by Governor Aiyedatiwa, said the clarification in his letter dated 5th April 2024 to the chairman of the party’s credentials/document vetting committee to shed light on Aiyedatiwa’s WAEC O’level result was “not borne out of any animosity or ill-will towards the governor but to save the party and the entire APC members in Ondo State front the perdition that befell our members in Bayelsa State from which they are yet to recover.
According to Edema, it would be suicidal to field a candidate that carries so much baggage and later lose to the opposition through the court. The former member Ondo State House of Assembly said he has it on good authority that PDP aspirants knowing Aiyedatiwa’s certificate discrepancy are lurking around the corner and praying fervently that the APC fields the governor as its candidate in the forthcoming Ondo governorship election.
He said the issue surrounding the WAEC ordinary level (O’level) number 15592/019 submitted by Aiyedatiwa to the Independent National Electoral Committee (INEC) in the year 2020 when he contested alongside the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu has been generating serious controversies in the last two months. He stated that the said certificate was investigated by the Police and “a report signed by DCP Tahir Usman indicting Hon Lucky Aiyedatiwa of certificate forgery, misrepresentation and perjury was issued to that effect.”
He listed the grounds for the indictment on the following: That the authority of Ikosi High School, Ketu, Lagos admitted to the Police that the school was established in the year 1980, that the school was accredited to present candidates to sit for WAEC May/June examinations for the first time in the year 1985, that Hon Lucky Aiyedatiwa 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.1980-1985.
“You will recall that the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the year 2019 annulled the election of David Lyon and his running mate as the duly elected Governor and Deputy Governor respectively on the grounds of eligibility. The Supreme Court found as a fact that the running mate, Senator Degi-Eremienyo presented a forged document to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
“You will agree with me, that as against the November/December private General Certificate of Education (GCE) examination also conducted by WAEC, to be qualified to sit for the May/June examinations of WAEC, one must be sponsored by a WAEC accredited school. The prima facie evidence of sponsorship is the school’s register, and a register of candidates transmitted by the accredited school, to WAEC with a photo book containing the photographs of those candidates.
“Not being a private GCE, there will also be evidence of collection of the said WAEC certificate from the school which sponsored the candidates. All these are missing in the case of His Excellency, Lucky Aiyedatiwa. Any post-primary litigation which may arise in the event of him (Aiyedatiwa) as the candidate of the party in the primary election coming up on 20th April 2024 may lead to grace consequences where our great party may not have a candidate for the governorship election in Ondo State coming up on the 16th November 2024.
“It is worthy of note, that a person or political party that wins the 2024 gubernatorial election in Ondo State will still be in government when the 2027 general elections will hold. We cannot therefore keep our fingers crossed and allow our God-given victory to slip away through the mistake or impunity of one man. No person is above the party. As a responsible member and leader of the party in Ondo State, it will be a great disservice, if I do not lay this information before the leadership of the party.
“Ondo state citizens are well educated and enlightened, as such, they are very sensitive to the issue of the educational qualification and capacity of whoever rules them. Never in the history of Ondo State, from the era of Papa Adekunle Ajasin up till the time of the Late Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, CON have we found ourselves in this quagmire,” Edema concluded.
