DistantNews
Support us
🇳🇬 Nigeria /Elections & Politics

2027: Ex-LP spokesman challenges Obi over alleged certificate discrepancies

From The Punch · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Context piece
  • A former Labour Party spokesman, Abayomi Arabambi, has accused Peter Obi of presenting discrepancies in his name across official documents.
  • Arabambi urged Obi to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race, demanding explanations for name variations on his INEC form, university certificate, and NYSC certificate.
  • The accusations come as Obi is expected to contest the 2027 election on the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, with Arabambi appealing to the party's leadership to address the issue.

A fresh controversy has emerged regarding Peter Obi's official identity documents, potentially impacting his 2027 presidential bid in Nigeria. Abayomi Arabambi, a former national publicity secretary of the Labour Party, has called for Obi to withdraw from the race, citing alleged discrepancies in his name across various official records.

My appeal first will go to the leader of the NDC, Seriake Dickson, not to foster what I will call a disaster in Nigeria by presenting Mr Peter Obi as the presidential candidate by giving him that form rather than giving him a JAMB form to fill.

— Abayomi ArabambiArabambi's appeal to the NDC leadership regarding Peter Obi's presidential candidacy.

Arabambi specifically pointed to Obi's submission of INEC Form EC9 in 2022, where he reportedly declared his name as "Peter Onwubuasi Gregory." However, Arabambi claims other documents, including his university and NYSC certificates, show variations such as "Obi Gregory Onwubuasi" and "Peter Gregory Onwubuasi Obi." He argued that these differences are significant, especially since Obi allegedly declared on the INEC form that he had no other formal name.

When you decided to write your name as Peter Gregory Onwubuasi and the first certificate you presented, not even the primary school certificate now has Obi Gregory Onwubuasi, that is an anomaly.

— Abayomi ArabambiArabambi detailing the alleged name variations on Obi's documents.

Obi, the Labour Party's presidential candidate in 2023, is expected to run in 2027 under the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC). Arabambi appealed to the NDC's national leader, Seriake Dickson, to withhold a presidential nomination form from Obi until these questions about his identity are resolved. He suggested that Obi should instead be given a JAMB form, implying a need for basic educational documentation.

And they asked him on page 2 in Form EC9, do you have any other formal name, and he said, ‘no’.

— Abayomi ArabambiArabambi highlighting Obi's alleged declaration of no other formal name on his INEC form.

The former spokesman questioned the consistency of Obi's name on documents from his primary education through his National Youth Service Corps certificate. He emphasized that maintaining a consistent identity is crucial for official records unless a formal change of name has been documented. The article notes that these claims have yet to be established as fact.

That means that everything attached contradicted all the names he used his hand to write.

— Abayomi ArabambiArabambi's conclusion on the implications of the name discrepancies.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by The Punch. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog