Aiyedatiwa Cleared By APC For Ondo governorship Primaries

Lucky Aiyedatiwa

THE Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, on Friday, April 12, became the first aspirant to be cleared by the All Progressives.Congress, APC, screening committee ahead of the April 20 governorship primary in the state.

Aiyedatiwa has been embroiled in an alleged academic certificate forgery that has threatened his chances of clinching the party ticket in the past few weeks.

The Police Service Commission and Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun were contacted by attorney Oladotun Hassan regarding a purported attempt by a high-ranking official to falsify the findings of an ongoing investigation into the governor's academic credentials. The Aiyedatiwa law firm has since denied the allegations.

Comparably, on Monday, April 8, Gbenga Edema, a different candidate for governor of Ondo, implored the APC National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, and the party's National Working Committee to look into the dispute about the validity of the governor's certificate.

Edema, who insisted he wasn't purposefully contacting the APC out of jealousy, cautioned that if the party doesn't thoroughly check the governor's credentials before approving him, they might see a recurrence of the events that led to the disqualification of David Lyon, the Bayelsa APC candidate for governor, after he was declared the winner of the election and sent packing by the Supreme Court for a similar offense.

Aiyedatiwa, meanwhile, declared that the issue has been resolved after being cleared by the screening committee on Friday.

He mentioned, “Screening is one of the processes aspirants have to go through. Mine has just been done this morning and all documents that were submitted have to be verified and questions asked where some are not too clear to the screening committee. Questions were asked and answered.

“At the end of the day, I have been cleared, especially on the issue that has to do with my certificate that a petition was written. Today, that has been put to rest. My certificates are genuine and authentic.

“I think it is a kind of mischief by some aspirants who see me as the man to beat and had to look for a way to discredit my person. Today, it has been verified and put to rest.”

The governor also described the uncertainty that resulted in the accusations of fraudulent credentials.

He claimed that the Ikosi High School, which he attended, was forced to combine with several other schools, especially those impacted by flooding, by Lateef Jakande, the governor of Lagos at the time.

“As a student of history, when Lateef Jakande became governor of Lagos State private schools were taken over. Schools were built for the communities. And Ikosi High School that I attended is one of those schools built by the government of Lateef Jakande. So, it is on record that the school was established in 1980 and at that time, I was already in Form Three in a private school, New Nation, in Ikosi while Royal Comprehensive High School is in Ajegunle Ikorudu, very close to Ketu.

“So their question or the petition bothers on why a school established in 1980 could have a first set leaving in 1982 instead of 1985. But he (the petitioner) didn't take the time to look at the history. But an investigation has been conducted. The schools are still there and the WAEC office is there where you can verify the subjects I took and the year I graduated from the school.

“You just need to buy a scratch card and go to the website of WAEC. It will be there - Ikosi High School Iketu and my name will be there with the subjects that I took and the various grades. So it is now clear to everybody that my certificate is authentic and I graduated from that school in 1982," he explained.

“So all of us were moved, including New Nation and Royal Comprehensive High School and some other schools that were affected by the flood into Ikosi High School, Ketu which was built by the government. That was how we wrote our WASCE in 1982 because we were in the first set. I was in Form Three at the time and it used to be five years, not now that you have six years for secondary school.

“So their question or the petition bothers on why a school established in 1980 could have a first set leaving in 1982 instead of 1985. But he (the petitioner) didn't take the time to look at the history. But an investigation has been conducted. The schools are still there and the WAEC office is there where you can verify the subjects I took and the year I graduated from school.”