A Delta High Court sitting in Kwale, has sacked the deputy speaker of the State House of Assembly and member representing Ndokwa East constituency, Mr. Friday Osanebi, over allegations that the NECO certificate he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC for his election in 2015 was forged.
The court declared on Wednesday that Mr. Osanebi lied on oath by submitting a forged NECO certificate.
The court also said there was no evidence to prove that Osanebi sat for and wrote his NECO examination at Orogu Grammar School, Orogu, Ughelli North local government area of the state as he claimed.
The court presided over by Justice V. I. Ofezi in his ruling said that the claimant was able to prove that Mr. Osanebi presented a NECO certificate which is not his own in the form CF001 2014 he submitted to INEC for the election.
The Judge said on the contrary, the deputy Speaker failed to put up a satisfactory defense for the discrepancies observed in his certificates in terms of the names and different dates by the claimant.
Justice Ofezi, therefore, awarded a cost of N400, 000 against Osanebi, PDP and INEC in favor of the claimant. He also directed INEC to immediately withdraw the certificate of return issued to the deputy speaker and issue same to Lawrence Emeka Odegbe, who was validly nominated as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), in the 2015 general elections.
The Court further ordered the Speaker of the Delta state House of Assembly to immediately sworn in Mr. Ozegbe as the rightful member of the State House of Assembly representing Ndokwa East constituency.
Meanwhile, following the apprehension that has gripped the people of Ndokwa East over the sack of their representative in the House of Assembly, the sacked deputy speaker has asked his constituents and supporters not to be worried over the court judgment.
In a statement issued by his special assistant, media and publicity, Mr. Agbanashi Obinne, obtained by SaharaReporters, the sacked legislator said, “We admonish our teeming supporters to remain calm and relaxed, for there is no cause for alarm. The judgment has since been appealed and the Deputy Speaker is not distracted either.”
SaharaReporters reliably learned that the sacked deputy speaker has boasted to use his wealth to buy justice at the Appeal Court.
Sources close to Mr. Osanebi who claimed to have graduated from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, (ESUT), said he never did as he was engrossed with cultism and his name cannot be found on the list of graduated students on the institution brochure.
As at the time of filing in this report, the state commissioner for land and survey, Mr. Chika Ossai, a rival to Mr. Osanebi who have expressed happiness over the development is said to be mobilizing against the deputy speaker. (SaharaReporters)
