By Nimi Princewill
The incoming governor of Kwara State, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, has rubbished accusations that he submitted a fake WAEC certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the just conducted gubernatorial election in the state.
Mr. Lawal Jimoh, counsel to Abdulrazaq, explained yesterday at the State High Court sitting in Ilorin that the governor-elect graduated from Government College, Kaduna in June 1976, thus, the allegation of certificate forgery was untrue.
He said, “My client attended Government College, Kaduna. And of course, he wrote his WAEC in 1976. The records are there, they are clear,” he stated.
Mr. Adekunle Abraham, a PDP chieftain in Kwara State had earlier challenged the legitimacy of Abdulrazaq’s WAEC certificate. He further probed the way the defendant’s name was written as “RASAQ A R.”
“From my personal experience, the West African Examination Council( WAEC) as a standard examination body in West Africa do not normally abbreviate names on the school certificates issued by it,” he said.
In futherance to this, he strongly reiterated his claim that the defendant did not sit for the exams, hence, was not issued with the certificate. He prayed the court to declare that the governor-elect lied on oath and submitted forged documents to contest the gubernatorial elections.
The presiding judge, Justice Adenike Akinpelu, however adjourned the case to June 10, saying the defence was still within the time frame to file their statements.