Coalition of Political
oppositions in Kwara has raised concerns over the alleged moves by the Counsels
to the Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and the All
Progressive Congress, (APC), with the support of the senior officials at the West
Africa Examination Council, (WAEC) to frustrate the judicial process in the
on-going election petition tribunal sitting in Ilorin.
The counsel to the petitioner,
Abdulwahab Bamidele, in the statement released to journalists on Monday, June
17, 2019, noted that the trivial and frivolities adopted by the defendant is a
pointer that the APC, lacks genuine evidences to present to the court and
therefore trying mechanism to delay proceedings and tamper justice.
Recall that the Peoples
Democratic Party, (PDP) and the Action Alliance, (AA) have dragged Governor
Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to the election petition tribunal challenging the
authenticity of his WAEC certificate which he submitted along with other
documents to contest the March 9, 2019 governorship election in the state.
The Chairman of Election Petition
Tribunal, Justice Bassey Effiong on Thursday adjourned to Friday to enable a
representative of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to present
evidence of the writ commanding him to appear in court in order to confirm the
authenticity of the document.
He gave the order, after PDP
counsel, Paul Erokoro, SAN, requested the tribunal to stand down the case for
Mr. Waheed Amode, the WAEC Branch Controller for the state to present evidence
of the subpoena, proving that he was asked to represent the examination body.
Mr Bamidele added that there are
claims that the officials of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) in
Lagos which the tribunal mandated to produce the subpoena missed their flight
to Ilorin on Friday morning.
Justice Bassey Effiong therefore
adjourned the sitting to July 9, 2019 in order to enable the WAEC officials
appear and confirm the authenticity of the Certificate presented by the
Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.
Mr Bamidele disclosed to
Journalists that all the moves by WAEC officials is an attempt to frustrate the
judicial process and exhaust the time-band for the argument of the case in
order to favour the respondents.
“We urge the general public to
follow the process with keen interest in order to ensure that justice, and good
governance prevails in the nation”, they said. Furthermore, it was added WAEC
should be careful that their credibility as an international examining body is
not tarnished in the quest to corruptly protect the interest of one individual.
WAEC's reputation in Nigeria is
already shaky with reports of widespread cheating at examination centres and
individuals parading fake results. If this sad situation is not addressed
quickly, WAEC certificates will soon lose their value internationally - to the
detriment of countless honest, dedicated and hardworking individuals”, he said.
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