Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, yesterday declared that only God can stop him from going to the Senate in 2015. He said the renewed campaign against him by some politicians and those he called traducers would not stop him from going ahead with his plans to contest the senatorial election in 2015. The governor’s tenure is expected to elapse on May 29, 2015.
Suswam, in a chat with newsmen in Abuja, said the new campaign that he forged his academic certificates was part of moves by his opponents to taint his image and discourage him from contesting next year’s election.
He said: “I will contest the senatorial election next year. In fact, only God can stop me from going to the Senate. They have come back with their usual lies about my certificates. Their desperation is to gain public attention.”
Brandishing all his academic certificates from secondary school to doctorate and the certificates published by a magazine in its recent edition, Suswam said it was clear that some people were out to tarnish his image.
According to him, there was no relationship between the certificates issued to him by schools he attended and the ones the magazine published as belonging to him.
“Look at all my certificates and the ones they published as belonging to me, I don’t know where they got the certificates they are parading. They are not mine.
“Some people want to tarnish my image, they want to reduce my worth in the eyes of the public. Some people started this in 2010. When they were asked to produce the certificates I forged, they could not produce one. The matter was thrown out at the High Court and Appeal Court because they could not produce the fake certificates they claimed I had.
“Now some people are sponsoring another publication on the same issue. The magazine that published the falsehood is the same paper that is being used to reproduce the lies. I attended prominent schools. Anybody can go to my secondary school, Government Secondary School, Makurdi, School of Basic Studies, University of Lagos, Nigerian Law School and University of Jos and check my results. When I was in form four, I wrote GCE and got my papers, I don’t know why I should forge a result, it is ridiculous; the allegation is wicked and painful,” he said.
The governor, who revealed that he had already briefed his lawyer on the publication, vowed to go to any legal length to prove his innocence on the allegation.
Asked if he was suspecting those aspiring for the same senatorial seat as being behind the allegation, he said it was possible that they had a hand in the allegation. He said: “I know that everything is political, they want to tarnish my image and taint my credibility.”
On the strike by teachers in the state, Suswam said his government had been fair to teachers and civil servants, adding that government was discussing with the teachers and would soon resolve all the differences.
Source: Sun
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