He claimed that Abiodun’s academic claims in forms submitted to INEC for the senatorial race in 2015 and the governorship election for 2019 were different.
Our Reporter
The crisis bedeviling the Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the choice of governorship candidate has taken another dimension with a lawyer, Abdulrafiu Baruwa, filing a suit seeking the disqualification of Dapo Abiodun from the race.
2019: I won’t be a ‘demolition man’, if elected governor – Abiodun
In a suit instituted against Abiodun, the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court in Abuja, Baruwa, a member of the APC, is seeking Abiodun’s disqualification over his academic qualification as submitted to the electoral umpire.
Baruwa said, by filing only his O’level qualification in the form submitted to INEC, Abiodun refused to disclose all his educational qualifications.
He claimed that Abiodun’s academic claims in forms submitted to INEC for the senatorial race in 2015 and the governorship election for 2019 were different.
He, therefore, asked the court to disqualify Abiodun and declare Mr. Jimi Lawal, the aspirant with the second highest votes in the APC primary, as the candidate of the party in the coming poll.
Baruwa asked the court to determine the following: “Whether having regard to the unambiguous provisions of Section 31 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), a candidate sponsored by a political party is not under an obligation to make full disclosure of all his educational qualifications as demanded by INEC in the prescribed Form CF 001?
“Whether the willful concealment and/or refusal by a candidate sponsored by a political party for an election to disclose all his educational qualifications as demanded by INEC in Form CF 001 does not amount to false information?
“Whether by the mandatory provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), and National Youth Service Corps Act, Cap. N84, Laws of the Federation, 2004, a candidate for an elective office, who had obtained a university degree or its equivalent at age 30 and below can willfully conceal in his Form CF 001 his university qualifications for the purpose of evading the consequences of the acts?
“Whether a political party such as the first defendant in this case is at liberty to apply double standards in clearing and/ or disqualifying persons aspiring for elective offices?
“Whether a candidate who had earlier stated on oath his university qualification can subsequently be permitted in law to willfully conceal his university qualification for the sole purpose of evading the consequences of such university qualification?”
An online publication had reported how Abiodun declared only his West African School Certificate (1978) qualifications in the Form CF001 submitted to the INEC on October 23, 2018.
The report said when Abiodun contested as senatorial candidate for Ogun East in 2015, he claimed to have attended the University of Ife, Ile-Ife (graduating in 1986) and Kennesaw State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (1989) in his INEC Form CF001, backed by an affidavit he swore to at the high court, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Abiodun’s decision not to include the two degrees in the Form CF001 submitted for the 2019 election fuelled suspicion that he might not have done the compulsory national youth service programme.
Efforts by our correspondent to get the director of media and publicity of Dapo Abiodun Campaign Organisation (DACO), Modele Sarafa Yusuf, to react to the allegation, proved abortive as several calls made to her mobile phone were neither answered nor returned.
Also, a short message sent to her phone was not replied at the time of filing this report.
Similar efforts to get Yusuf’s assistant, Emmanuel Ojo, to comment on the matter fell through, phone calls by our correspondent were not picked nor returned. A WhatsApp message sent to him remained unread at the time of this report.
In the same vein, the director-general of DACO, Segun Adesegun, failed to answer calls made to his mobile phone by our correspondent. A short message sent to him to comment on the allegation against Abiodun was not replied.