Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has disclosed that he had found his missing original copies of his school certificates.
Recall that the Prof. Jonathan Ayuba-led screening committee had disqualified the governor from contesting in the forthcoming party primary in the state for refusing to produce his original copies of his credentials.
Chairman of the panel, while presenting the report to the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee in Abuja on Friday, explained that the committee could not vouch for the authenticity of Mr Obaseki’s Higher School Certificate he claimed to have obtained.
However, speaking with the State House correspondent at the Aso Villa, shortly after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, the governor said he had found the misplaced original copies.
Speaking on alleged inconsistencies in his credentials, the governor said: “Someone who hasn’t gone to school, who doesn’t have certificate himself, will not know and understand what inconsistencies in certificates are, that’s the starting point.
“What is the inconsistency? There’s no inconsistency in my certificates. The issue was in 2016, when I contested for gubernatorial election, I could not find the originals of my certificates because I hadn’t required them for more than two decades. So I deposed to an affidavit that I couldn’t find the originals.
“Subsequently, I found all the original copies of all my certificates and they are with me. So I don’t understand what’s inconsistent about that.
“Maybe the inconsistency in the Youths Corps certificate where he said my surname was missing an ‘i’ at the end but if you look at that it was like a cursive, it was written in a cursive manner. So if that’s inconsistency for him, then it’s really sad that people of that quality are leading the Nigeria’s ruling party.
“For him it was just to look for an excuse to take whatever decision he wants to take and it’s really sad that the party structure today gives him that sort of authority without checks, that is dangerous for any system or any institution.
“When you give authority and responsibility to people who don’t have character, people who do not have finesse, a sense of justice, then that institution is imperiled,” he noted.
