A federal high court in Abuja, on Wednesday, dismissed the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki‘s motion challenging the certificates he presented to qualify for paricopation in the September 19 govenorship election as forged.
Some discrepancies were fingered in the credentials presented by the governor.
Wednesday’s ruling by the court dismissing the motion by the PDP and Obaseki challenging the competence of the motion by the APC came two weeks after the case was adjourned.
The court had adjourned hearing from November 16 to November 18, but could not hear the matter on November 18, thus necessitating further adjournment to December 2.
The adjournment had followed the submissions by counsel to Obaseki, Mr Ken Mozia, that all pending motions relating to pleadings must first be resolved before going into the substantive matter.
Mozia specifically asked the court to allow him move his motion challenging the competence of the reply filed by the APC to the defence in the matter.
However, lawyer to the APC, Mr Akin Olujimi, objected to the position of the governor’s counsel on the pending motions.
He prayed the court to step down all the pending applications and allow him proceed with the substantive matter by calling his witnesses who were in court.
In a short ruling before adjourning the suit, Justice Mohammed had held that the motion of Governor Obaseki challenging the competence of the APC’s reply to his defence was fundamental because it related to the pleadings and had to be resolved first.
The plaintiffs, APC, prayed the court for an order disqualifying Obaseki from contesting the September 19 governorship election in Edo State on the grounds that he supplied false information on oath to INEC, an act said to be contrary to Section 31(5) and (6) of the Electoral Act, 2010.
They specifically accused the governor of forging his university certificate presented to INEC in aid of his qualification for the governorship election in Edo State.
They also claimed that there were discrepancies in the subject Obaseki claimed he passed in his West African Examinations Council (WAEC) exam and those in his testimonial.
Obaseki contested the September 19 governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where he moved to after the ruling party, APC, disqualified him from seeking a second term as governor of the state on the grounds of his defectives credentials. (Additional information from WSJ)
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