Some stakeholders Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, have called on Obinna Ogba, senator representing Ebonyi Central senatorial district to address the allegation of certificate forgery levelled against him or face court action.
The stakeholders under the aegis of Nkalagu for Better Ebonyi, in a statement by its convener, Ali Ikechukwu sent to our correspondent at the weekend, noted that since the senator was yet to address the allegation of certificate forgery levelled against him, it has become necessary to compel him to do so in view of his interest in the state governorship seat in 2023.
“We are people with interested in making sure that those who govern or aspire to govern Ebonyi State are individuals who are without reproach. In view of this, we are calling on Senator Obinna Ogba to address the allegation of certificate forgery levelled against him some months ago,” the group said.
“We note that the allegations of forgery, especially of school certificates are too grievous to ignore, especially for anyone with interest in governing Ebonyi now or in the future. It is in this regard that we call on Senator Ogba to clear the air on his alleged forged certificates.
“Although we are aware that Ogba is not officially a candidate of any political party as it stands, but having stood for primaries, even as he continues to insist on running, it is important that he comes clean now on the issue of his certificates. Failure to do so, we will have no choice but to take legal steps to compel him to,” the group noted.
It would be recalled that the chairman of Afikpo-South local government area of the state, Dr. Eni Uduma Chima, had alleged that Ogba forged his two Ordinary Level West African Examination results of 1989 and 1990.
Chima had noted in a statement in 2020, that Ogba’s results “have once been questioned by the Stakeholders of Ebonyi Central Senatorial District in 2019,” as according to him, “the passport photographs on the two Ordinary Level Results are those of two different persons and not that of Joseph Obinna Ogba.”
He had claimed further that, “Further Musing on Senator Sergeant Joseph Obinna Ogba on his unwarranted insults and false accusations against the Ebonyi State Governor” and issued to Journalists in Abakaliki, the Ex-Lawmaker pointed out that “After verification of the Results upon application to the West African Examination Council, the Council unequivocally confirmed that the WAEC Results of 1989 and 1990 being paraded by Joseph Obinna Ogba were products of examination malpractice, impersonation and criminality.
“I reiterate my erstwhile position that Sergeant Ogba has scanty academic qualification but will add, since he has brought it up as an issue, that his basic qualification of Ordinary Level West African Examination Certificate is questionable and in fact has once been questioned by the Stakeholders of Ebonyi Central Senatorial District in 2019.
“After verification of the Results upon application to the West African Examination Council, the Council unequivocally confirmed that the WAEC Results of 1989 and 1990 being paraded by Joseph Obinna Ogba as his are products of examination malpractice, impersonation and criminality as the passport photographs on the two Ordinary Level Results are those of two different persons and not that of Candidate Joseph Obinna Ogba.
“Ogba’s attempt to replace the mercenary’s passport photographs embossed on the spurious certificates with his (Ogba’s) own, with the connivance of Mr. Stephen Ali, a WAEC official failed and led to the dismissal of Mr. Ali from West African Examination Council.
“It beats one’s imagination that even the mercenary whose picture is embossed on Ogba’s WAEC certificates could not pass the Art Subjects he wrote in a single sitting, talk of birds of identical plumage flocking together and congregating within the same proximity.”
Chima had further described Ogba’s purported WAEC Results as “being the voice of Jacob and the hand of Esau” which will end up serving as a clog in the wheel of him attaining a gubernatorial position.
“The issue of Ogba’s O’level Results being the voice of Jacob and the hand of Esau is a knowledge in the public domain and will remain an albatross which may prove fatal to his far-fetched fantasy of attaining a gubernatorial position.”