‘I wasn’t involved in any certificate scandal,’ Governor says

monjola sotubo

April 3, 2017 3:13 PM

Obaseki made the clarification via a statement released by his Chief Press Secretary, John Mayaki on Sunday, April 2.

Edo state governor, Godwin Obaseki.

Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has denied being involved in a

Obaseki made the clarification via a statement released by his Chief Press Secretary, John Mayaki on Sunday, April 2.

“It is highly displeasing, troubling, and quite unfair to the governor’s person and image to categorize him among those who have had ‘scandals’ on account of the often questionable reports from the opposition party,” the statement read.

Mayaki explained further that the governor had, in 2016, sworn an affidavit declaring his certificates missing ‘to the best of his knowledge,’ as required by the Electoral Act 2010.

“However, those rightly threatened by his profile and educational attainments, which stood in sharp contrast to those of their own candidates for the same election, chose to seek refuge in deliberate misrepresentation of the contents of the affidavit until the governor later produced the original copies,” the statement added.

Obaseki eventually discovered that the certificates were with his cousin in New York.

“I have found them. The truth is that I have not had any reason to look for them in the last 25 years. I know that I kept them somewhere in a safe box and I had photocopies,” Obaseki said on Wednesday, August 17, 2016.

“When I needed them for the exercise, I couldn’t find them, so I swore to an affidavit that I can’t find the originals. I said I can’t find them; here are the photocopies.

“I took the photocopies to the institutions that issued them and they certified the photocopies. So, when the whole controversy started raging, my cousin called me from New York and said, ‘but your originals are here.’ I said please send them to me now,” he added.

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Obaseki was sworn in as governor of Edo on November 12, 2016.

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