Dapo Abiodun, Ogun APC governorship candidate has finally admitted that he dropped out of OAU, as he further maintained that contention over his academic credentials is an attempt at mudslinging.
Dapo Abiodun who appeared on Sunday Politics, a live programme on Channels Television, said he had never misrepresented his educational credentials to anyone.
“I never claimed to have finished from the University of Ife (now OAU). I did go to school in Ife. I went to school in the University of Ife but I didn’t graduate from the University of Ife. I never claimed to have obtained a degree from the University of Ife.”
When asked about the Bachelor of Arts in Accounting degree he claimed to have, Abiodun said he would not comment further. He further stated that he won’t disclose the school he earned his degree from, since the matter is already in court.
“But that (degree) is not from Ife. This has all been an attempt to mudsling and confuse the electorate, and it’s bundled with a lot of half-truths.
“I never claimed to have studied Accounting at the University of Ife. I never claimed to have graduated from the University of Ife. So, this issue has been presented as the presenter wanted it presented. I do have a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting and I would like to stop at that.
“The electorate know that I went to school and I have not misrepresented to anyone about my degrees. But it would be convenient for those who are intimidated and afraid of my electoral success to continue to attempt to disparage me and to present the matter as falsely as it suits them. The facts are being distorted but we will leave the matter since it is in court.”
The Ogun APC governorship candidate who denied claims of winning the primaries in the state due to his alleged closeness to Tinubu and a former Ogun State governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba, added;
“These are accusations that have been thrown all over the place and it is not unusual in politics for people to mudsling and say things to try and bring the other person down. It’s convenient for people to say one is favoured.
“I don’t see how Asiwaju, who is our leader, favouring me, had influenced the elections. I never saw any endorsement before my election.
“Chief Osoba is the leader of the party in the state. He took me by the hand because I am now the candidate of the party, so everybody in the party must now support me. That is the way it works. The governor (Ibikunle Amosun) has chosen not to support me. Ideally, my governor and I should be on the same page.
“So, if you have emerged through a process and you have now become the candidate of the party, everybody who is your leader in that party in that state (and) outside that state, in that geopolitical zone, should be supporting you. Anyone not supporting you amounts to something else.”
This is coming after a suit was filed at a High Court in Abuja, seeking Abiodun’s disqualification from the governorship race for allegedly giving “false information” in the academic qualification he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
