… As right group wants him to resign Over Discrepancies, others
A rights group, Committee for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), has called on the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly (DTHA), Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori, to immediately resign from office over the issue of irregularities recently observed in his certificates pending when the matter had been resolved.
Alternatively, the body demanded the immediate suspension of the Speaker by other members of the House should he fail to resign, in order to allow for an unbiased investigation into the case so as to be able to establish the truth in the claim of an alleged certificates forgery.
The body, which vowed not to allow the matter to be swept under the carpet, described the issue as a criminal offence based on the fact that a case of perjury had been established against the Hon Speaker for lying under oath by presenting falsified certificates to contest elections and presided over the affairs of the House.
While disclosing its plans to take the matter before a competent court of law for adjudication in order to set the record straight, the body warned that it would not hesitate to expose a person or group of persons plotting to cover up the matter so as to enable the Speaker to continue parading himself office.
The Rights group also intimated of its readiness to petition the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to carry out thorough investigations into the issue of the Speaker, Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, certificates irregularities with the view of establishing the truth in the documents he presented as certificates before the panel.
Making its stand known in a statement made available to reporters in Warri, CDHR National President (Dr) Kehinde Taiga said it would not hesitate to organise a mass protest to block the entrance of the Delta state House of Assembly if the lawmakers ignore its demand to suspend the Speaker to allow for a thorough probe.
According to the statement; “We the members of CDHR are watching with keen interest the development as far as the issue of certificates discrepancies observed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Screening Committee is concerned and we make bold to say we would not tolerate anything short of a detailed Investigations to unravel the truth in the case”.
“It is therefore based on this that we are calling on the members of the Delta state House of Assembly to immediately suspend the Speaker of House, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, if he fails to resign on his own to allow for an unbiased probe into the certificates saga”.
Continuing, the statement read: “On our own, we have decided to institute a lawsuit in a competent court of jurisdiction to look into the matter in the interest of justice and also petition the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to investigate the issue, inorder to clear doubts and concerns the issue had generated”.
He noted that; “In the meantime, we are waiting to see how events turn out, as CDHR would not hesitate to mobilise a mass protest to occupy the entrance of the State House of Assembly if nothing is done by the lawmakers in this regard”.
“We are not unmindful of plans to sweep this issue under the carpet in the usual manner but we want to sound a note of warning that any person or group of persons working behind the scene to cover up this matter shall be exposed to the public as we would no longer allow people to continue to take us for a fool”, the statement concluded.
It would be recalled that the PDP Screening Committee that visited the state last weekend refused to clear the Delta House of Assembly Speaker, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, over obvious discrepancies observed on the certificates he submitted.
Some of the issues raised apart from having multiple names on the certificates prevented, especially first and second degree from Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma and Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka respectively, the major concern was how he sat for the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) at Oghareki Grammar school at the age of 36years
Consequent upon this, CDHR said that based on the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA), it would officially petition the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) to furnish it with details on the enrollment form filled by the Honourable Speaker in 1999 when he claimed to have sat for the exams at Oghareki Grammer school.
The body noted that this inquiry had become necessary in order to ascertain the correct names, date of birth and local government origin filled by the Hon. Speaker in that very certificate examination that was meant for only secondary school candidates that fell within a particular age bracket.
It stated that going by WAEC standards only candidates within the age range of 16 to 20 can stand for its examination while those who are older had the privilege to enrol with the General Certificate of Education (GCE) for their O-level examination, stressing that by this it has become impossible for a 36years old to have been enrolled for WAEC exam.
“Once we are able to cross-check all this information from WAEC and established the truth, then we can determine our next line of action concerning this issue of alleged certificates manipulation by Hon. Oborevwori, Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly (DTHA), the statement concluded.
