He allegedly altered his date of birth on the certificate originally bearing August 16, 1978 by changing it to June 16, 1963 which he submitted to the Independent and National Electoral Commission for the forthcoming election.
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has said the date of birth on the senior school certificate presented by Michael Diden, popularly known as Ejele, the Delta State senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been altered.
Diden is contesting in the February 25, 2023, general elections.
Records obtained by SaharaReporters show that Diden, 59, a former chairman of the Board of Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC), and a former lawmaker representing Warri North constituency, took his senior school certificate examination at Ufuoma Secondary School, Ufuoma-Ughelli, Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state, in May/June 1999, but altered his date of birth on his WAEC certificate, also known as West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) result.
Diden won the PDP ticket for the district in the forthcoming 2023 general elections on Monday, May 23, 2022, at the Warri township stadium, after allegedly bribing the delegates with N1 million each in dollar equivalent.
Diden, who is the founder and General Overseer of Mega Praise Ministry Int’l with headquarters in Sapele, has his certificate bearing 4112012/052 as the candidate’s examination number and NGWASSCE 394463 as the certificate number.
He allegedly altered his date of birth on the certificate originally bearing August 16, 1978 by changing it to June 16, 1963 which he submitted to the Independent and National Electoral Commission for the forthcoming election.
SaharaReporters gathered that the information contained for Diden in the personal particulars in Form EC9 and submitted to INEC in support of his nomination to contest for the Delta South senatorial district in the National Assembly was false.
It was gathered that it was the same alleged forged certificate that Diden submitted to INEC in 2014 while contesting for the Warri North constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly in the 2015 general elections.
In responding to a letter of enquiry, WAEC, in a letter signed by A. A. Okelezo, Deputy Director/Zonal Coordinator for Head of National Office, titled “Re: Verification Of Result For Diden Michael”, and exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters, noted that the certificate being paraded by Diden and submitted to INEC was altered, making it invalid.
It reads, “Your letter June 25, 2022 on the above subject matter refers. Our record shows that the date of birth of candidate 4112012/052 Diden Michael for May/June 1999 is August, 16, 1978 and not June 16, 1963. The scores are the same. Please find attach, a copy of the verified result and also a copy of the printed result from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) online portal for further necessary action.”
WAEC has always warned that “any altercation, erasure or absence of photography renders this certificate invalid.”
Meanwhile, all efforts to contact Diden for comment were unsuccessful as his mobile line was switched off at the time of filing this report. He also did not reply to a text message sent to him.
Section 467 of the Criminal Code Act in Nigeria stipulates, “Any person who forges any document, writing, or seal, is guilty of an offence which, unless otherwise stated, is a felony, and he is liable, if no other punishment is provided, to imprisonment for three years.”