GODWIN Obaseki, the incumbent Governor of Edo State has been disqualified from contesting in the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election ahead of the governorship election coming up in the state on September 19.

The Screening Committee of the APC cleared Pastor Osagie-Ize Iyamu to participate in the party’s primary election in Edo State scheduled for the 22nd of June while disqualifying the embattled incumbent governor over discrepancies in his academic credentials.

The ICIR gathered that his disqualification was affirmed by the seven-man panel screening committee of APC led by Professor Jonathan Ayuba, in Abuja who said Obaseki is not eligible to stand for the primary slated for June 22.

Obaseki was deemed ineligible by the Screening Committee over multiple inconsistencies in his presented academic certificates, including a Higher School Leaving Certificate the Governor claimed to have obtained from an Institute of Continuing Education in Benin City, Edo State.

The certificate, according to the committee, is unknown to the Nigerian education system and the Governor also admitted during the screening that he never received the certificate.

It could be recalled that some members of the party had earlier written the leadership of APC calling for the disqualification of Obaseki due to the inconsistencies in his academic credentials pasted alongside other contestants on the party’s notice board.

The ICIR learnt that those seeking Obaseki’s disqualification were afraid that the party would be faced with a likely repeat of its experience in Bayelsa State where it won the last November governorship election but its candidate, David Lyon, was stopped on the eve of his inauguration following a judgment of the Supreme Court that voided his election.

However, the embattled Governor, while responding to journalists said he would not appeal the outcome of the screening exercise which disqualified him from participating in the primary election of the party.