Alleged Forged Cert: Produce Sanwo-Olu’s WAEC Cert In 48hrs Or Face Litigation-Group Threatens WAEC …..’It’s Non-Issue’-Sanwo-Olu’s Spokesman

An indigenous organisation, Eko United Group, has issued a-48 hour ultimatum to the management of West African Examination Council, WAEC, to produce Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s 1981 certificate or face litigation.

The Publicity Secretary of the group, Ayodele Kumolu-Johnson, made the call on Wednesday, at a media briefing in Ikeja, over the recent developments regarding the case of allegation of forged statement of WAEC result against Governor Sanwo-Olu at the on-going Election Petition Tribunal in Lagos.

According to Kumolu-Johnson, “We, the leaders and members of the Eko United, in the best interest of the good people of Lagos State, would like to address the recent developments regarding the case of allegations of a forged statement of WAEC result made against Gov. Sanwo-Olu at the ongoing Lagos Election Petition Tribunal.

“It has come to our attention that our Gov, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was declared the winner of the state governorship election by the electoral umpire has been accused at the election petition tribunal of presenting a forged statement of WAEC result to INEC when he contested in 2019, thereby risking a disqualification as enshrined in section 182 (1) j of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“After same WAEC failed to tender Governor Sanwo-Olu’s certificate at the tribunal and having waited this long on our Governor to also put a lie to the weighty allegation by going public with the original copy of his WAEC certificate or compel WAEC to produce a certified true copy of same if he has lost the original, we deem it imperative to use this World Press Conference to call on WAEC to produce Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s 1981 certificate in the next 48hrs or be ready for litigation in this regard.

“It is quite unfathomable that Gov. Sanwo-Olu, who claimed under oath in his form EC9 for the 2023 election that he sat for WAEC in 1981, refused to attach the said certificate as claimed.

“However, he had attached a statement of WAEC result from Ijebu Ife Community Grammar School in his Form CF001 while standing for election earlier in 2019.

“We are also aware that after WAEC result verification portal has revealed his attached statement of result to be a forged document, a sudden upload that was hurriedly done did not also tally with statement presented to INEC, despite having same year and exam diet, names on them are clearly different.

“This has further caused us, the people of Lagos an embarrassment that needs to be addressed urgently.

“It is saddening and disheartening that an institution like WAEC will expose itself and reveal culpability in the fraudulent, sudden upload of result on the council’s portal, after the same portal had earlier proved the result to be a forged document.

“Worse still, WAEC appeared at the tribunal to file a motion to stop a forensic analysis of the institution’s back-end server, of course knowing fully well that such a development will expose the complicity in the sudden and fraudulent upload of the result.

“So the questions begging for answers are: Whose interest is WAEC protecting? What exactly is WAEC out to cover? Why waste public funds on engaging a legal counsel over a matter of no interest to the council?

“We firmly believe that all individuals, including elected officials, should be held accountable for their actions.

“This case is already a bad case as both Governor Sanwo-Olu and WAEC haven’t been able to put a lie to the allegation before them by presenting to the tribunal the governor’s WAEC certificate or an attestation letter which is the statutory document WAEC issues, in case of loss of certificate.

“To complicate this matter, the purported sudden upload of the result was badly done with conspicuous discrepancies in both the new upload and the allegedly forged one he presented to INEC.

“We hereby enjoin Governor Sanwoolu to emulate Mmesoma, the Lady who recently went viral for forging her Jamb result, confessed and apologized.

“He should also confess and tender a public apology to Lagosians or better still, he should sue WAEC and compel them to produce his certificate.

“Transparency and honesty are fundamental to the strength of our democracy, the truth must be uncovered and justice must not only be served but be seen to have been served.Eko United remains committed to serving the people of Lagos and protecting their democratic rights.

“We assure the public that we will closely monitor the proceedings of the Lagos Election Petition Tribunal and advocate for a fair and impartial resolution to this matter.

“Perjury is a criminal offence, falsification of result is a grievous crime; while believing that the judiciary will rise up to the occasion this time and restore our trust in the legal system to uphold justice and maintain the integrity of our electoral process, we will continue to provide updates as this case unfolds and reiterate our commitment to a transparent and democratic society.”

Reacting to the allegation, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Sanwo-Olu, Mr Gboyega Akosile said;”it’s a non-issue. The matter is part of the items raised at the Election Petition Tribunal and is still on. Without prejudice to the court, I can confirm to you that there’s nothing like that.”