On September 20, 2024, an X user (formerly Twitter) posted an image with the claim that Monday Okpebholo, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been disqualified over age falsification.
Attached to the claim is a court order instituted by Honesty Aginbatse as the complainant against Monday Okpebholo, All Progressives Congress and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the defendant.
Claim: Abuja court disqualifies Monday Okpebholo over age falsification
Verification:
On September 13, 2024, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Honesty Aginbatse, instituted a court case alleging discrepancies in the birth dates submitted by Monday Okpebholo to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
According to the suit, Okpebholo’s 2023 senate nomination form indicated his birth date as March 29, 1970. He alleged that in other submissions, Okpebholo’s 2024 governorship nomination forms contain conflicting birth dates: August 29, 1970, on an age declaration, August 29, 1972, on his West African Examination Council (WAEC) certificate, and August 1, 1977, on his INEC voter’s card.
On September 19, 2024, while hearing the suit, Abubakar Mukhtar, the presiding magistrate ruled that Okpebholo be summoned to appear before the magistrate in Abuja at 12 noon (tomorrow) September 20, 2024.
In another twist, the CDD War Room found that on September 20, an FCT High Court sitting in Maitama stopped criminal summons against Monday Okpebholo, the APC governorship candidate in the Saturday governorship election in Edo.
While ruling on the motion ex-parte moved by Okpebholo’s lawyer, Adaze Emwanta,
Justice O.C. Agbaza stopped the summons after granting leave for the judicial review of Magistrate Abubakar Mukhtar’s criminal summons.
Verdict: FALSE
The CDD War Room found that the APC candidate, Monday Okpebholo was not disqualified over age falsification. We found that he was taken to court and has been summoned to appear in a suit bothering on age falsification and alleged discrepancies about his age. However, an FCT High Court has has stopped the criminal summon.
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