*Affirms with WAEC On Chronicling Of Names on Certificates
By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
At a resumed hearing at the 2023 Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State today, the candidate of the the Young Progressives Party (YPP) in the election in the state, Senator Albert Bassey Akpan, tendered his WAEC certificate to the tribunal.
Senator Albert affirmed to the court that his surname, Akpan, is the first in chronicling of his name by the West African Examination Council certificate of 1989, which he sat for.
The YPP’s candidate’s testimony is in correlation with the position of Barr. Adekanbi Olaolu, a senior staff of the West African Examination Council and subpoenaed witness, who told the court last month, the examination body usually chronicles the name of a candidate for its examination, beginning from the candidate’s surname.
Counsel to the second respondent (Eno, Umo Bassey), Paul Usoro (SAN) during cross examination asked the witness (Sen. Akpan), if he has met anyone with the name ‘Bassey, Umo Eno’, before.
Responding, the YPP candidate told the Tribunal that he has not met ‘Bassey, Umo Eno’, but has met ‘Eno, Umo Bassey’, and the two are different individuals.
Recall WAEC had in June tendered a results listing of candidates for Victory High School, Ikeja, with the name ‘Bassey, Umo Eno’, as candidate with number ‘15520232’. Olaolu had also told the Tribunal that the examination body depends on what individual candidates submit to them through their respective institutions, while admitting it is not the duty of the body to determine which is the surname of a candidate.
Olaolu, while testifying, asserted that candidates who sat for WAEC examinations however have a window to reconcile their names through a well spelt process, of which the PDP candidate (Eno, Umo Bassey) failed to leverage on.
A certified true copy of records with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) affirmed that the candidate of the PDP (Eno, Umo Bassey) swore to an oath confirming his surname as ‘Eno’, on his form EC9 with INEC, as against ‘Bassey’, which appears on the controversial 1981 certificate he submitted to the election umpire.
Counsel to the 1st (INEC) and 3rd (PDP) respondents, Abdullahi SAN and Oyetibo SAN, respectively, also cross examined the YPP candidate on the same subject, to reaffirm the petitioner’s earlier position.
The petitioners closed their case, while the court asked the respondents to prepare for their defense.
The case was adjourned to Monday 10th July, 2023 for the respondents to commence their defense.
YPP governorship candidate, Senator Akpan had one part, petitioned the Tribunal challenging the authenticity of the WAEC certificate the second respondent and PDP governorship candidate in the said election (Eno, Umo Bassey) presented to the INEC.
