The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Monday Okpebholo, the All Progressives Congress with controversial dates of birth like Bola Tinubu, winner of Saturday’s Edo governorship election
According to the INEC returning officer, Prof. Faruk Kuta, polled 291,667, defeated Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party, who polled 247,274.
In a report by People Gazette, before the election, documents were in circulation which report how Okpebholo submitted falsified birth records to the Independent National Electoral Commission, a development similar to controversies around Mr Tinubu’s dates of birth, 1952 and 1954.
Okpebholo supplied conflicting dates of birth from a sworn declaration of age and academic records in Form EC-9 (affidavit of personal particulars) presented to the electoral office as a candidate in the September 21, 2024, gubernatorial election. All contenders for elected office are required by law to file Form EC-9.
In his March 24, 2024, submission to INEC, Okpebholo stated under oath that his date of birth was August 29, 1970. This was affirmed in a statutory declaration of age affidavit by his brother, Ojeifo Joseph Okpebholo.
However, in Okpebholo’s West African School Certificate (WASC) result obtained in 2008 and submitted to INEC on March 24, the politician listed his date of birth as August 29, 1972, contradicting the 1970 date in his INEC filings.
In another false filing, Okpebholo’s voter registration profile on the INEC portal showed his date of birth as August 1, 1977, representing a third conflicting date.
Section 29 (6) of the Electoral Act 2022 stipulates that the provision of false information in an affidavit submitted to INEC can disqualify a candidate and their political party from participating in an election. If the determination is made after the election, the candidate who scored the second-highest number of valid votes will be declared the winner.
Okpebholo did not return requests for comments on his conflicting dates of birth and also did no media interview during the campaign.
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