Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the purported error in the certificate of Governor Godwin Obaseki was caused by a photocopier.
The party stated this in its defence in the suit marked EPT/ED/GOV/01/2020 filed by the Action Democratic Party (ADP) and its governorship candidate Iboi Emmanuel in the election held in September.
The ADP asked the tribunal to nullify Obaseki’s election on the grounds that he submitted false information to the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to enable him run for office.
Responding to the allegations, PDP counsel Adetunji Oyeyipo said: “There was a misstatement in mixing up the year of graduation with the year of admission.
“While filling the forms for the election in 2016, Obaseki inadvertently and mistakenly wrote 1976 in a portion of the form for the year of the graduation which was the year of his admission into the University of Ibadan.
“At the time Obaseki was completing his form CF001 in 2016, he deposed to an affidavit stating that he had misplaced the originals of all of his certificates while changing offices with the intention to apply for a re-issuance if his certificates.
“Subsequently, before Obaseki submitted his Form EC9 in 2020, the original certificate issued by University of Ibadan was eventually found which has the signatures of the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar of the University.
“The original certificate was issued in A5 size; however, in order for the photocopy of the certificate to be attached to the form CF001, the size was reduced to A4 and in the process, leaving out some information on the certificate.”
The PDP also challenged the jurisdiction of the tribunal to hear the matter on the grounds that it was statute-barred.
