Running mate of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the September 19 governorship election in Edo State, Gani Audu, is embroiled in a certificate forgery case.
Documents submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) show discrepancies in his academic qualifications and other means of identification, Vanguard reports.
The discrepancies appear in several documents and show a trail similar to the inconsistencies found in the academic credentials of the sacked deputy governor of Bayelsa State, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, which caused the APC to lose the state after the Supreme Court ruled that his certificates were defective thereby nullifying the party’s ticket in that state’s recent governorship election.
To compound Audu’s woes, the Action Democratic Party (ADP) has instituted a court case at the Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking the court to disqualify the candidate of the APC as result of the defective certificates of his running mate.
The ADP is asking the court to rule that certificates submitted by Audu are forged and that he was not fit to stand for the September 19 governorship election in Edo.
In the documents, while Gani Audu swore to an affidavit submitted to INEC with his name as Audu Abudu Ganiyu, his other documents bear different names.
A legal expert, Mr Blessed Omonuwa, who assessed the documents, said, “While his name on the affidavit is Audu Abudu Ganiyu, in his voter’s card, his name is Audu Abdul Ganiyu. Likewise, in his APC membership card, his name appears as Gani Audu. The WASSCE/GCE certificate he submitted bears Audu Ahudu Ganeyu.”
