Alleged Certificate Forgery: Nat’l PDP gives WAEC 7-day ultimatum to investigate official over alleged false testimony

By Mumini Abdulkareem

The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has given a seven-day ultimatum to the headquarters of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to investigate one of its officials, Mr Olorunsola Victor Oladeji for allegedly giving false testimony in the ongoing alleged certificate forgery case against Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.
The party also petitioned the regional headquarters of WAEC in Ghana and Gambia accusing the sister to the Governor, Hajia Khairat Gwadabe of frequenting WAEC national office in Lagos and holding meetings with top officials of the body in Ghana in order to influence the outcome of the trial.
The party in the petition copied the President of Ghana, Nana Akufor Ado and his counterpart from the Gambia, Adama Barrow, queried the controversial manner in which the WAEC representative made series of mind boggling false and contradictory claims during witness examination in the court.
According to the party, in the letter signed by its National Legal Adviser, Emmanuel Enoidem, which was sighted by this reporter, WAEC should conduct thorough investigation into the matter and sanction those found wanting. The PDP also requested WAEC to write directly to the tribunal so as to remedy the false evidence tendered by the staff.
The ultimatum will lapse Monday failure after which the party said it will commenced legal proceedings to unravel and “uncover the unwholesome fraud and recover punitive damages.”
The PDP further alleged that it was aware of a recent crude attempt at WAEC Lagos office to alter a record department register to include details of the disputed certificate adding that WAEC reputation has been greatly dented by this episode.
Alleging several discrepancies in the submission of Mr Oladeji who claimed to be a senior officer and disputed certificate, the PDP accused WAEC Nigeria office of deliberate act of distortion to provide soft landing for the Governor at the tribunal.
The PDP in the petitioned doubted the representation of Oladeji citing the levels at which the documents he presented contradicted the documents submitted by Governor Abdulrazaq in his files with INEC.
The letter reads in part:
“WAEC reputation is greatly dented by this episode, there is grave danger that grossly devalued reputation due to fraudulent interference with its results, international bodies and employers may no longer accept WAEC results as credible, we do not want to contemplate other damages this will do.”
“We therefore urge you to take urgent action to restore reputation of WAEC by: Conducting a thorough investigation into this sordid affair and take decisive actions against those found culpable”
“Take notice that if WAEC fails to take actions within 7 days of this letter, we will commence legal proceedings to unravel this unwholesome fraud and recover punitive damages.”