Uzoh Tampered with My NECO Result, Ubah Alleges
The controversy between Senator Ifeanyi Ubah and his challenger, Dr. Obinna Uzoh, in the tussle for the Anambra South senatorial seat raged further yesterday when the senator accused Uzoh of tampering with his National Examination Council (NECO) result and liable to a jail term for blackmailing him.
Ubah said Uzoh, in his bid to foist himself as a senator, has resorted to misleading the judiciary, parading a photoshop of his NECO results and sponsoring unsubstantiated allegations against him.
The tussle for the Anambra South senatorial seat started when Uzoh of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) filed a pre-election suit to challenge the nomination of Ubah by his party, Young Progressive Party (YPP) for the Anambra South senatorial district election, alleging that the senator presented a forged NECO certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Delivering judgment in the suit filed before a Federal Capital Territory High Court, the trial judge, Justice Bello Kawu nullified Ubah’s election as the senator representing Anambra South for allegedly using a forged NECO certificate to contest the senatorial election that held in the state on February 23, 2019.
The judge ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Ubah and issues a fresh certificate of return to Uzoh, the candidate of the PDP who came second in the election as the senator-elect of the district.
The lawmaker, however, approached the court to set aside the judgment on the grounds that he was neither given fair hearing nor served with the court processes and hearing notice in the suit before the court delivered the judgment against him.
Following his application for a stay of execution, the judge on December 4, restrained the Senate president from swearing-in Uzoh, pending the hearing and determination of the motion challenging the verdict.
The court equally ordered all the parties, including the INEC to maintain the status quo until it decides the merit in Ubah’s contention.
But the judge on Friday, January 17 held that Ubah’s application to vacate its judgment lacked merit and accordingly dismissed it.
However, in a sudden twist, NECO wrote to the YPP leadership claiming that the NECO certificate was genuine and issued to Ifeanyi Ubah in 2003.
Despite the fact that NECO affirmed the authenticity of the senator’s certificate after he had been previously sacked, Uzor insisted that the NECO school certificate tendered by Ubah to INEC was forged.
He cited some discrepancies between the initial certificate Ubah submitted to INEC and the NECO-certified copy.
For instance, Uzoh alleged that the initial certificate has serial number: 303865920 while the NECO certified copy has serial number: 303565920, adding that the certificates have different signatures, logos and even fonts.
However, in a statement issued yesterday, Ubah stated Uzoh initially alleged that he forged his NECO results because his certificate has seven credits without one F9 in biology which is clearly contained in the statement of result, adding that this vividly showed that Uzoh and his cronies are not in tune with the conventional practices of examination bodies; NECO in this case, and WAEC also.
“Recent events have further unveiled the fact that he does not know the difference between a “Statement of result” and “Certificate of Result”. It also crystal clear that Obinna Uzoh does not know that INEC requires candidates to submit only “Certificate of Result” and not “Statement of Result”.