THE Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has admitted that there was an error in the copy of the certificate presented for documentation by its candidate, Governor Godwin Obaseki while seeking re-election.

It explained that the error came about during the process of photocopying the original.

This admittance was contained in a reply to the petition filed by Action Democratic Party against Godwin Obaseki challenging the jurisdiction of the Edo State Election Petition Tribunal to hear the petition.

The PDP said, “There was a mistake in mixing up the year of graduation with the year of admission.”

This was contained in a document signed by counsels for the PDP, Adetunji Oyeyipo (SAN), Rotimi Oguneso (SAN), Santos Owootori, Yusuf Goodluck and Mercy Okolo.

The PDP said in spite of the noticeable error, Obaseki proceeded to take part in the National Youth Service Corps scheme, adding that it was a pre-election matter which the tribunal could entertain.

It said, “While filling the forms for the election in 2016, Obaseki inadvertently and mistakenly wrote 1976 in a portion of the form for the year of the graduation which year was the year of his admission into the University of Ibadan.

“At the time Obaseki was completing his Form CF001 in 2016, he deposed to an affidavit stating that he had misplaced the originals of all of his certificates while changing offices with the intention to apply for a re-issuance of his certificates.

“Subsequently, before Obaseki submitted his Form EC9 in 2020, the original certificate issued by University of Ibadan was eventually found, which has the signatures of the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar of the university.

“The original certificate was issued in A5 size; however, in order for the photocopy of the certificate to be attached to the Form CF001, the size was reduced to A4 and in the process, leaving out some information on the certificate.”

It, however, said “the tribunal lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the petition for reason that same is statute-barred because the issues raised by the petitioner, according to the PDP, are averments which are not relevant for the purpose of determining the petition at the Election Petition Tribunal.”