By Valentine Amanze
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the Federal High Court in Benin City, Edo State, to disqualify Mr Patrick Obahiagbon, who is the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate from contesting the Edo South senatorial election scheduled for February 16, 2019.
The opposition party’s prayer is contained in suit No. FHC/B/CS/5/19, brought before the court and dated January 23, 2019, with Obahiagbon and the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) as first and second defendants.
The Edo State PDP spokesman, Chris Osa Nehikhare, in a statement, accused Mr Patrick Obahiagbon of supplying false information on oath to INEC and therefore must be disqualified.
PDP further buttressed its request: “We are relying on two sets of sworn affidavits of support of personal particulars, which Mr Obahiagbon submitted to INEC in 2007, with his date of birth as 12th April 1960 and in 2018 where his date of birth is 12th April 1964.
“In the sworn affidavit specifying the educational institutions that he attended with dates for the 2007 election, Mr. Obahiagbon also claimed to have left primary school the year he was born as he said he attended Our Lady of Lords Nursery School, Sapele from 1964 (the year he claimed as his date of birth in 2018) and graduated in 1970.
“In addition, based on the same 2007 documents, we noticed also that Mr Obahiagbon paraded a purported NYSC certificate of National Service Number NYSC/OD/LAW/88/56766 to show that he completed the service year from 18th September 1988 to 17th September 1989, which was issued in September 1989. The NYSC certificate is however absent in his 2018 documents to INEC.
“Why has he refused to submit this NYSC certificate in 2018?
Abdur-Raheem Adebayo Shittu is the serving minister of Communications from Oyo State, Nigeria. His party chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, who incidentally is Mr. Obahiagbon’s Chairman, disqualified him from contesting for the office of governor of Oyo State because he did not partake in the mandatory NYSC programme.
“According to the constitution, it is a criminal offense for a Nigerian who graduated before the age of 30 not to participate in the NYSC programme.”
The PDP therefore said that corruption is not only when one steals, adding that aiding, abetting and covering up a crime is the worst type of corruption.
The opposition party also appealed to Nigerians to be vigilant.