A senior Legal officer of the West Africa Examinations Council, (WAEC) Adekanmbi Olaolu has testified before the Akwa Ibom State Governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal, that Governor Umo Eno sat for the 1981 and 1983 exams at its Ikeja Centre; and that his name is on the WAEC result listings.
The Director of Academic Affairs of the University of Uyo, Dr Ime Akpabio also told the Tribunal that Governor Umo Eno graduated from the University but not with the said registration number as presented by the plaintiff.
Recall that the Petitioner, Senator Bassey Albert, the Akwa Ibom State governorship candidate of the Young Progressives Party, (YPP) in the 2023 elections had in his petition alleged that Umo Eno did not go to school and was not a legitimate graduate of the University of Uyo and never had an authentic WAEC certificate.
The Tribunal acting on Bassey Albert’s application subpoenaed the University of Uyo management over the allegations of certificate forgery levelled against Pastor Eno.
Speaking as a subpoenaed witness at the Tribunal in Uyo on Friday, Dr Akpabio said the fake result certificate bearing 98UG017806 did not emanate from the University of Uyo revealing that the said registration number belongs to Ugoji Chinenye who was admitted to study Communication Arts.
Akpabio further said that having worked in the university for over 24 years he could recognise that the stamp and other evidence submitted by Senator Akpan were all forged.
On the letter of expulsion purportedly issued against Pastor Umo Eno by the institution, Dr Ime Akpabio said, “Everything here is wrong. This document did not emanate from the University of Uyo”
The document tendered by OBA’s counsel is signed by one Daniel J. Akpan said to be an Administrative Officer 1, but Dr. Success Akpabio told the court thus “No we don’t have any Administrative Officer 1 known as Daniel Akpan.”
When asked how many Eno Umo Bassey do you have in the University of Uyo records, Dr. Akpabio responded; “As a former Head of Records before becoming the Director of Academic Affairs, we have only one Eno Umo Bassey in the university records”
“I was in Records. I was the Senior Assistant Registrar, I screened Eno Umo Bassey. I got this from his file. That’s my signature there on the document.
Reacting to the day’s proceedings, counsel to the second respondent, Paul Usoro, SAN submitted that the testimonies presented before the court by the two witnesses, Dr. Success Akpabio of the University of Uyo and Adekanmbi Olaolu of the West Africa Examinations Council, WAEC has put to rest the claims by the petitioner, as their testimonies had proven that those documents tendered by the petitioner were all forged documents.
Also speaking, Emmanuel Enoidem noted that the hearing has further busted the lies and falsehood in the petition of the YPP Governorship candidate against Governor Umo Eno.
“Reacting to the developments, former legal adviser of the PDP, Emmanuel Enoidem expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the proceedings.
“They had two witnesses summoned there, the University of Uyo and WAEC to confirm or otherwise the result of Umo Eno and that’s exactly what happened in court”.
“Even before we came here, we knew that Umo Eno was qualified to stand for election as the Governor of Akwa Ibom State.
” Those witnesses only came here to affirm and confirm those records that we already had. But what is more important today is that all of the documents that were paraded by the petitioner have been proven to be forged documents”.
