APC Governorship Candidate In Certificate Scandal, Risks Disqualification

Adedapo Abiodun, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Ogun State, has been caught in a messy scandal that could see him disqualified as the flag-bearer of the ruling party in the February 2019 gubernatorial election.

Mr Abiodun, a renowned oil and gas executive from Ijebu Remo, is facing allegations that he evaded national service after graduating from the university in the 1980s, and claimed in his nomination form that he does not have a university degree in order to deceive his party and the Independent National Electoral Commission, according to court filings seen by PREMIUM TIMES.

Documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES also showed that Mr Abiodun made conflicting academic claims in his INEC filings when he ran for Senate in 2015 and as a governorship candidate this year.

Mr Abiodun was declared winner of the 2018 governorship primaries in Ogun State in October.

His emergence sparked a bitter and unending confrontation between the leadership of the APC led by Adams and Ibikunle Amosun, the governor of Ogun State.

Mr Amosun, also of the APC, strongly contested Mr Abiodun’s candidacy, and vowed last week that he would work against the candidate in 2019.

Although Mr Amosun remained in the APC, his favoured successor has abandoned the party with other topshots to test their ambitions elsewhere.

A bigger battle

But while Mr Amosun’s stiff resistance to Mr Abiodun’s ambition may be considered too daunting to surmount, the latest revelations about the candidate’s failure to take part in the youth service and misrepresentation of himself before INEC appear to have the bigger potential to undo him.

This is primarily because the APC has indicated in September that it would not condone any member who failed to serve the country after finishing from the university.

The party asserted its zero tolerance for NYSC deflection whenit disqualified communications minister Adebayo Shittu late September.

A week earlier, PREMIUM TIMES had exposed Mr Shittu’s failure to serve after graduating from the university in the 1970s.

A spokesperson for the APC did not return requests for comments on whether or not the party would equally disqualify Mr Abiodun or wait for the court to do so.

Making the case

Adesina Baruwa, who filed the suit against Mr Abiodun at the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, argued the politician should be disqualified for claiming in his INEC form that he does not have a university degree.