The West African Examination Council (WAEC) on Friday made a U-turn as it tendered a certified true copy of Governor Dapo Abiodun’s result at the Ogun State election petition tribunal.
Media Talk Africa recalls that an official of the examination body from Lagos, Olufemi Olaleye, on July 20, appeared before the tribunal sitting in Isabo, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, on a subpoena.
Olaleye, who was supposed to bring a copy of Abiodun’s certificate as requested by the court, said he was not with the certificate.
He told the tribunal he did not bring the requested certificate “because the council does not keep duplicates of collected WAEC certificates.”
He stated that to confirm whether or not somebody took part in the examination, “the original certificate given to the candidate will be forwarded to WAEC” for verification.
However, on Friday, another official of the examination council from the Abeokuta office, Fasasi Adetunji Sarafa, appeared at the tribunal to tender what he called a certified true copy of Abiodun’s WAEC result.
Fasasi said he was at the tribunal to represent WAEC based on a subpoena issued at the council’s Lagos headquarters.
The result copy was admitted by the tribunal as RA3, after which the WAEC official was discharged.
While the respondents did not object to the document, counsel to the petitioners, Gordy Uche, objected, saying they would reserve details till final addresses.
“We have a serious objection. Looking on the face of it, this does not look like WAEC result,” Uche stated.
Recall that Ladi Adebutu, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the March 18 governorship election, had alleged that Abiodun forged his WAEC certificate.
