THE Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has explained why it will not challenge the result of the state assembly election for Ovia North-East Constituency at the election petition tribunal.

Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, Chris Nehikhare, told journalists in Benin that the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Dumez Ugiagbe, who was declared winner, forged the certificate he used to contest the election, and as a result, was not fit to participate in the poll.

Nehikhare noted that, as a result the development, the PDP candidate, Nosa Omoregie, has automatically won the election.

He said, “You will be aware that our members in most cases, have gone to the tribunal but in this case in Ovia, we are not going to the tribunal because we won that election. The APC candidate was not supposed to be at the ballot in the first place.

“The police high command is now interested in the case of forgery being handled by a competent command in Edo State.

“By the time the court hears the case, you will agree with me that the court will make a pronouncement that he was not fit to contest, and as such, any vote which he got will be null and void and the person with the second highest number of votes will be declared the winner.

“That is why we have not challenged this case at the tribunal.

“But we want to go to the process of the court, which is the legitimate means to acquire this victory.”

Speaking earlier, Omoregie alleged that the photograph on Ugiagbe’s West Africa Examination Council certificate was different from the one attached to the examination slip.

He claimed that WAEC confirmed the development following an enquiry he made over the said certificate.

The PDP candidate said going by the response from WAEC, it was obvious that the lawmaker-elect did not sit for the examination himself, but rather contracted somebody to write the examination for him.

He said, “Based on the petition, the police undertook a very comprehensive investigation with the support of WAEC, confirming the suspicion of Dumez certificate forgery.

“As part of this investigation, the police invited Dumez to defend himself with evidence of the original WAEC certificate, but he has bluntly refused to honour the invitation. Whoever commits a crime must be brought to justice.”

He added that instead of appearing before the police in Benin to defend himself with evidence of the original WAEC certificate, the APC candidate counter-petitioned the Inspector-General of the Police, alleging criminal conspiracy and defamation.

While commending the police in Edo State for what he described as the painstaking and professional approach displayed in the investigation, Omoregie insisted that the lawmaker-elect must be brought to justice.

He said that he has instituted a civil case against Ugiagbe for forgery and perjury, and that he must follow up with the criminal aspect.

Reacting to the allegations, Ugiagbe insisted that the certificate belonged to him.

He explained that he had to petition the force headquarters in Abuja because he didn’t have confidence in the police in Benin.

He said, “I own my certificate and the matter is already in court. He (Omoregie) went to the police and influenced one Blessing to write petition against me and as the matter is going on, they have not taken my statement, they say they have concluded their investigation.

“I wasn’t having confidence in the police in Benin anymore, so, I had to tell my lawyer to write to Abuja so that the matter can be investigated properly.

“All he is saying is not true. The matter is in court and my lawyer is handling it. He lost the election and so should take it in good faith instead of bringing the issue of forged certificate.” – Punch

– Apr. 6, 2019 @ 12:25 GMT |