Tribunal: WAEC Refuses to Offer Ogun Gov. Abiodun’s Certificate

Abiodun allegedly handed in a fake WAEC certificate.

Olufemi Olaleye, a representative of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), came before the Ogun State election petition tribunal on Thursday without presenting a copy of Governor Dapo Abiodun’s certificate.

In the Ogun State elections on March 18, Abiodun ran as the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) governorship candidate.

A copy of Dapo Abiodun’s 1978 WAEC certificate, which was annexed to the document he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had previously been requested by the tribunal from the examination council.

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Abiodun was accused of forging his WAEC certificate when Ladi Adebutu, a candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), made the claim.

Adebutu claimed in his suit that Abiodun reportedly gave the first Respondent (INEC) on July 25, 2022, a fake June 1978 West African Examinations Council School Certificate.

The petitioner further claimed that in order to confirm the validity of the examination certificate that Abiodun had handed the electoral umpire, he had written to WAEC.

The WAEC official said that “the requested certificate is not here with me,” thus he was neither sworn in nor was he permitted to enter the witness box.

Olufemi Olaleye was permitted to present as evidence a copy of the subpoena sent to the examination body while he was present before the tribunal, nonetheless.

He said to the tribunal that the reason he didn’t bring the required document was “because WAEC does not keep duplicates of collected WAEC certificates.”

According to him, “the original certificate given to the candidate will be forwarded to WAEC” for verification in order to determine whether or not someone took the council’s examination.

After testifying before the tribunal as PW73, Olaleye was promptly released from custody.