The labour party crisis is getting deeper as the Lamidi Apapa-led faction of the Labour Party has alleged some discrepancies in the academic certificates of its presidential candidate, Peter Obi. The claim was made by the spokesman for the LP faction, Abayomi Arabambi, when he appeared on AIT News on Thursday.
It could be recalled that Obi had on Wednesday dragged Tinubu at a press conference where he challenged the former Lagos governor to reveal his true identity to Nigerians.
Arabambi however insisted on the live television programme that it would be unfair of the LP candidate to attack Tinubu when he also has discrepancies in academic qualifications.
While laying his allegation, he said he was among the panel who screened Obi before the party’s presidential primary, saying the name on the academic certificate Obi bagged from the University of Nigeria in Nsukka contradicts the name on that of his National Youth Service Corps.
According to him, “I was part of the people who did the screening for him. In the form EC9 we gave him, he wrote that he attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and that he finished his youth service. But unfortunately, in the final submission of the form, he only submitted his school certificate.
“So, something is fishy, and I want to say the name the school sent for mobilisation was not what was written on his NYSC certificate, and he knows that. For us, we don’t know the true identity of Peter Obi even in the Labour Party because everything was shrouded in secrecy at that time in Asaba, He maintained.
Speaking further, “You know we were rushing because we had just a day to do our presidential primary, and that was why he was able to get away with it. But we have it on record that Obi’s name on his NYSC certificate and the one on his university of Nigeria, Nsukka, certificate are different.”
But the National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, denied the allegation. Ifoh described Arabambi as one of the renegades of the party, saying, his predecessor was out to cause chaos in the party by doing the bidding of his alleged paymasters.
“Arabambi should try something else. Our candidate, Peter Gregory Obi, is a known figure whose parentage, birth, schools attended and record of public service, has never been in dispute, he emphasised.
“As he said publicly yesterday (Wednesday), some of his mates at the University of Nigeria Nsukka are alive. In fact, they are holding high office in the management team of the university today. This can be verified. His certificates are in the public domain and can be scrutinised by any interested Nigerian, he clarified.
“Arabambi, is obviously doing the bidding of his paymasters who are desperate to destroy our party. We challenge Arabambi’s principal to do the same and save our nation further embarrassment,” Ifoh said.
