Society Gists

Abdulrrafiu Baruwa, a lawyer, has filed a suit seeking the disqualification of Dapo Abiodun, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Ogun state, from the 2019 general election, TheCable can report.

In a suit filed at a federal capital territory (FCT) high court in Abuja, Baruwa, also a member of APC, asked the court to disqualify Abiodun from the race over “false information” contained in the academic qualification he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Among Baruwa’s prayers are:

Abiodun’s refusal to disclose all his educational qualifications as demanded by INEC in FORM CF 001 amounts to false information
APC is not at liberty to apply double standards in clearing or disqualifying persons aspiring for elective offices
A proper construction of the Forms CF 001 filled and Abiodun submitted to INEC for the 2015 senatorial election and 2019 governorship election
Disqualifying Abiodun as candidate of the APC having regard to the false information contained in his Form CF 001 submitted to INEC.
Declaring Jimi Lawal, the aspirant with the second highest votes in the APC primary as the candidate of the APC in the governorship poll.
TheCable had reported how Abiodun declared only his West African School Certificate (1978) in the Form CF001 submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on October 23, 2018.

However, when he ran as the APC 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, US (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 did not undergo the compulsory national youth service – which is punishable under the law – even though he finished his first degree in 1986.

While some are in doubt that Abiodun attended those higher institutions, Baruwa said he knows that the APC candidate graduated from University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) before 30 but neither participated in the mandatory national youth service nor obtained any exemption certificate.

Abiodun was born on May 29, 1960 and was 26 in 1986 when he claimed to have finished his first degree. The age limit for national service is 30.

The lawyer said Abiodun, who had earlier swore an oath on his university qualification, cannot be permitted in law to willfully conceal his qualifications for the sole purpose of evading the consequences of such educational qualifications.