September 13, (THEWILL) – A Magistrate’s Court in Wuse, Abuja, has ordered Senator Monday Okpebholo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the September 21 governorship election in Edo State, to appear before it over alleged age falsification.
Okpebholo is facing charges of forgery and perjury for allegedly making false statements on oath in filling his nomination forms presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The suit filed by a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Honesty Aginbatse, on September 12, alleged discrepancies in the birth date provided in the nomination forms Okpebholo submitted to the electoral body.
The APC candidate was ordered to appear before Magistrate Abubakar Mukhtar on September 20.
Aginbatse alleged that while Okpebholo’s 2023 Senate nomination form showed his birth date as March 29, 1970, his governorship nomination forms contained an age declaration form which read August 29, 1970.
According to Aginbatse, the APC candidate’s West African Examination Council certificate read August 29, 1972, while he had August 1, 1977, as his date of birth on his INEC voter card.
He stated that Under Section 182.1 (d) of the Nigerian Constitution, a conviction for offences involving dishonesty or fraud disqualifies a person from running for governor.
In his ruling, the Magistrate adjourned the matter to September 20.
