An aspirant who lost in the 2023 PDP Governorship primaries in Akwa Ibom State, Mr Akan Okon has told a Federal High Court in Uyo that he does not know all the constitutional requirements that qualify one to contest as Governor in Nigeria.

Akan Okon was being cross examined on Wednesday by Chief Paul Usoro, SAN, counsel to the 1st and 2nd defendants, PDP and Pastor Umo Eno, who is the Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) in suit no FHC/UY/CS/110/2022 when he confessed that he didn’t know if voter’s cards were compulsory for aspirants seeking governorship positions in the country.

During the continuous hearing on the matter, the Court was further stirred when Mr. Akan Okon, who is challenging the emergence of the PDP Governorship Candidate Mr Umo Eno confessed that despite writing his West African Senior School Certificate Examination in 1981 in Itam Secondary School, Itu, he has not the faintest idea how many candidates wrote the examinations in the area along with him that year nor the number of examination centers in the area.

He owned up that it was not within his knowledge base to ascertain how many WAEC centers are located in Akwa Ibom State, let alone knowing the number of candidates within the State who took part in that examination.

Plaintiff was being drilled on his claims in Paragraph 8(a) of his Amended Statement of Claim and Amended Written Statement on Oath, where he alleged that the 2nd defendant was parading a forged 1981 certificate said to have been issued to him by WAEC at the Victory High School, Ikeja.

Under cross examination, the plaintiff told the court that he had no contact with any other candidate who wrote the examination in the Victory High School, Ikeja where the 2nd defendant wrote his examination and also had no idea how many people wrote the examination with him.

This, he said meant that he had not been able to see any certificate from any of the candidates who wrote the examinations along with Pastor Umo Eno at Ikeja and further told the court that despite claiming that the 2nd defendant forged the signature of the WAEC chairman and registrar in both his 1981 and 1983 certificates, he never knew the two principal officers of the examination body for those periods and had never been granted the privilege of seeing their original sample of results.

“As a student, it was not my duty to know the Chairman and Registrar of WAEC”, Mr Akan Okon quipped,
On his allegation that signatures on Pastor Umo Eno’s certificate are boldened and as such they are computer generated, the Plaintiff was asked if he knew the process of placing the signatures in his own certificate by the examination council, to which he lamented that he didn’t know and further said he also didn’t know how the principal officers placed the signatures on all other certificates of candidates who wrote examinations in 1981.

Despite being a law abiding citizen, Mr Akan Okon told the court he made no efforts to report the case of forgery.

Akan Okon’s legal team was led in court by Mr Okey Amaechi, SAN while Mr Emmanuel Eze, Esq, stood in for INEC, third defendant.

The court resumes for further hearing on Thursday.