The moves by Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state to join the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and emerge as its candidate in the September 19 polls has put the party in dilemma.
Obaseki was last week disqualified from bidding for his party – the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket.
Expatiating on reasons for Obaseki’s disqualification while submitting its report, the party’s screening Appeal Committee Chairman, Dr. Abubakar Fari, at the weekend said: “In the affidavit sworn to by Godwin Obaseki before the High Court Abuja, he stated under oath that he graduated from the University of Ibadan with a BA degree in Classical Studies in 1976. However, the university certificate he attached to his nomination form bears 1979 which is a material contradiction.’’
The committee also said it found it hard to believe Obaseki gained admission to study at the university with three credits without a proper A-levels or a diploma.
It added that the governor was in possession of two separate voter cards which is illegal. Fari added that the attestation letter of the Institute the governor claimed to have attended after secondary school, was not on the letter head of the school.
The committee said it found inconsistencies in the forms Obaseki submitted for scrutiny.
The PDP’s nomination process closed on June 2 while screening of aspirants closed on June 5. Three aspirants have been cleared by the party to vie for the ticket.
Legal pundits said last night that only those cleared within the stipulated time, are qualified to contest in the primary. “Obaseki was not screened and so cannot participate”, a renowned lawyer said.
The PDP primary will hold on Friday. The Independent Electoral Commission (lNEC) option only allows parties seeking to field candidates for the Edo governorship election to replace candidates not later than July 13, but with a caveat: the new candidate must have participated in the primary.
“PDP should forget about Obaseki or risk serious litigation over his eligibilty and breach of its own rules”, another lawyer said last night.
The PDP guidelines indicate the following timelines for its governorship primary election: Notice of election to state chapter (May 15); Sales of expression of interest and nomination forms(May 20 –June 01); Last day for submission of forms (EOI and NOI) June 02; Screening of aspirants (June 05); Appeals on screening outcome (June 08); and Ward Congresses to elect a three-man Ad Hoc delegates (June 09).
Others are Ward Congresses Appeals(June13); Local Government Congresses to elect National Delegates and persons Living with Disability per LGA(June 16); LGA congresses Appeals(June 18); Publication of delegates’ list(June 18); Gubernatorial primary(candidate nomination) –June 19-20; Appeals on governorship primary(June 23); Certification of Deputy Governorship candidate by NWC and compilation of documents(June 25); Last day for submission of names of candidate and deputy to the Independent National Electoral Commission (June 29); Last day for withdrawal and replacement of withdrawn candidates( July 13); and last day for submission of agents names to LGA offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (September 01).
The aspirants cleared for the governorship primary are a member of the House of Representatives (Oredo Federal Constituency), Hon. Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama(Edo South); Mr. Gideon Ikhine (Edo Central), an engineer; and a foremost Educationist, Kenneth Imasuagbon (Edo Central).
As at last night, none of the candidates had shown interest in stepping down for Obaseki.
A PDP source said: “We are in a serious dilemma and our party is facing integrity test. Obaseki is trying to have his way at all cost to secure the PDP governorship nomination ticket.
“This is a governor who has not formally defected to the PDP. The options available are to ask all the aspirants to step down for him or to allow the primary election to hold and ask the eventual candidate to step down.
