Akwa Ibom Governor-Elect, Umo Eno, in Certificate Forgery and Expulsion Scandal, Details Emerge

• The governorship election petition tribunal in Akwa Ibom state has heard the argument that accused the governor-elect of certificate forgery
• The Governor-elect, Umo Uno, was allegedly expelled from the university for forging his WAEC certificate
• YPP's gubernatorial candidate, Albert Bassey, filed the allegation before the tribunal

Akwa Ibom, Uyo - The governor-elect in Akwa Ibom state, Umo Eno, has been accused of being expelled as an undergraduate from the University of Uyo in 2005 for allegedly forging his O'level certificate.

As reported by TheCable, the claims were brought before the governorship election petition tribunal in Uyo by the gubernatorial candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Albert Bassey.

The petition by Bassey marked AKW/GOV/01/2023 disclosed that the governor-elect was expelled from the institution after it was discovered that he had used a fake West African Examination Council (WAEC)/Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) certificate to obtain admission.

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Bassey's legal team urged the tribunal to nullify Umo's victory and withdraw his certificate of return as the state governor-elect proclaimed by INEC.

The petition reads:

“It was also revealed that while Eno Umo Bassey claimed to have used his WAEC/SSCE certificate of December 1998 to gain admission into the university, the admission for 1998/1999 academic session was in October 1998,” the petition reads.

“Eno Umo Bassey was listed as No 19 in the University of Uyo’s senate list of expelled students dated 10th February 2005.”

Furthermore, Bassey's counsel argued that the evidence shows that Umo was not qualified to contest the governorship seat.

Umo's lawyer reacts to Bassey's allegations

Reacting to the allegations, the legal counsel to Umo filed a counter-application debunking the content of Bassey's allegations.

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In a 63-paragraph application, Umo said he had his first and second degrees in sciences and later earned another degree in political science and public administration from the University of Uyo.

Meanwhile, Akan Okon, a former governorship aspirant of the PDP, was reported to have filed a similar suit against Umo at a high court in Uyo.

But it was later gathered that the court struck out the case with the sum of N15 million also awarded against the plaintiff.

The presiding judge ruled that Okon's allegations were based on an assumption which lacked proof.

Again at the appellate court earlier in January, Okon's case was also struck out, with the court upholding the initial judgment of the high court.

However, the appellate court reduced the N15 million awarded to Umo to N5 million.

Jubilation as Supreme Court affirms Adeleke as Osun State Governor

In another development, the Supreme Court, in the case of Ademola Adeleke vs Adegboyega Oyetola, upheld the initial verdict of the appellate court.

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Before legal proceedings at the apex court, Governor Adeleke got a favourable verdict at the appellate court confirming his status as governor.

The court's judgement is a prequel to the election tribunal's verdict that nullified Adeleke's victory at the governorship polls in Osun state.

Source: Legit.ng