Edo 2020: Obaseki opts for another party

Politics / BY Nwafor

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State.

…As APC disqualifies him, Ogiemwonyi, Iduoriyekemwen

…Cites discrepancies in Gov’s certificates, names

…Obaseki shuns appeal, says his disqualification, a mockery of democratic process

…As Ize-Iyamu, Odubu, Obazee scale hurdle

…Oyegun blows hot, says party would be punished in Edo

…Go on appeal, Oshiomhole tasks Obaseki, others

…Obaseki will win the guber election – Ojezue

By Dapo Akinrefon; Omeiza Ajayi; Gabriel Enogholase & Ozioruva Aliu

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State was last night weighing different options and considering the party he would bear their flag in the September governorship election after the Prof. Jonathan Ayuba-led Screening Committee of the All Progressives Congress APC for the Edo state Governorship primary election disqualified him, as well as Engr. Chris Ogiemwonyi and Hon. Matthew Iduoriyekemwen.

Sources close to the governor said a final decision would be taken today even as some politicians in the state had eyes on the Peoples Democratic Party. But even as that option appeared shaky, close friends of the governor boasted that they had a joker, vowing that the governor would be re-elected in September. The governor, his aides, said, would not appeal the disqualification.

Presenting the report of the committee to the National Working Committee NWC of the party on Friday in Abuja, Prof. Ayuba cited discrepancies in the names and certificates of the governor. For Ogiemwonyi, the committee also cited discrepancies in his names while it disqualified Iduoriyekemwen on the grounds that he instituted a suit against the party without exhausting all mechanisms of settlement in line with the APC Constitution.

Speaking on the activities of his committee, Prof. Ayuba said; “We are staking our integrity. The integrity of the process in this country in order to arrive at what we have done. Mr Chairman, our report is conclusive. Every member signed and has agreed with what we have decided at the committee level. This is essential because we want to be judged by what we have done and what we are presenting.

“We were thorough in the manner in which we conducted the exercise. We recorded live the interaction with each of the aspirants. The unedited clip is what we are giving as part of our report. We want to be judged by what we have done and not by what a third party says or by rumour.

“The methodology we used is clear. It was evidence-based. All we did was an interaction.

The Report “We screened six aspirants. Three were eligible to contest and three were deemed ineligible to participate.

Mr Osaro Obaze: The first candidate was Mr Osaro Obaze. The committee after screening and the verification of the candidate’s documents, found him eligible to contest the primary. Based on the committee’s observation above, the candidate is cleared.

“Engr Chris Osa: The name on all the certificates presented by the aspirant are in contradiction with one another. Also the sworn declaration of age deposed to by one Capt. Stephen on 3rd June 2016 bore two conflicting names of the aspirant. 

Considering the discrepancy in all the certificates presented and also the difference in the names contained in the sworn affidavit of June 2016, and having regards to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Electoral Act, APC Constitution and the party’s guidelines for the nomination of candidates and the reliance on the cases that have been settled by the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, it is the considered view of the committee that this aspirant does not meet the requirements to participate in the primary election of the APC. “In view of the findings of the committee above, Engr Chris is not cleared.

“Dr Pius Odubu: The observations are that the name Pius Egberanmwen Precious Odubu appeared on different documents. However anomaly was cured in the affidavit deposed to by his father and our recommendation is the Pius Odubu is eligible to participate in the election.

“Mr Godwin Obaseki: Though, His Excellency, Godwin Obaseki in his nomination form claimed to have obtained a Higher School Leaving Certificate from an Institute of Continuing Education, Benin. It was observed however that no educational certificate such as HSC is known in Nigerian educational system. Even then, the same HSC was never presented in the course of the screening exercise. 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 (Friday) 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.

Iduoriyekemwen: The last aspirant we screened was Iduoriyekemwen and our recommendation is that because he has also instituted a case before the court and which he admitted and since the Constitution is clear about such actions, it is the view of the committee that he is not eligible to participate in the exercise”, he explained.

Go on appeal.

Receiving the report, National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole restated his earlier position that the verdict of the committee was not final, urging those who are aggrieved to file their complaints to the Appeal Committee.

He said; “Like I mentioned at the inauguration of this committee, your report is still subject to the Appeal Committee and the appeal committee will give opportunity to all those who have participated in this exercise to appeal if they have reasons to disagree with the findings of this committee. As of yesterday, those aspirants have been advised to take full advantage of the appeal mechanism if they wish and the appeal Committee has been out on notice to be ready to hear any appeal arising from these aspirants”.

We’ll not appeal outcome of unjust screening exercise—Obaseki Reacting to his disqualification, Obaseki in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, Crusoe Osagie said that he would not appeal “his unjust disqualification by the Governorship Primary Screening Committee” noting that the action was ‘a mockery of the democratic process.’

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